Britney Spears was hospitalized early Thursday morning for a psychiatric evaluation, after a coordinated force of hospital ambulances and police motorcycles, cars and helicopters escorted the troubled 26-year-old to UCLA Medical Center.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Britney Spears’ second hospitalization (the first occurred on Jan. 3 when she refused to return her two sons to former husband Kevin Federline) appeared to have been a better planned-out operation, with hospital and police officials uniting their forces.

She was transported by ambulance from her Studio City home around 1 a.m., with hounding paparazzi safely and determinedly kept at bay, as more than a dozen motorcycle officers, two cruisers and two police helicopters escorted the singer, the Times reports.

Spears is to remain in the facility for a “mental health evaluation hold,” throughout the following 72 hours. People magazine reports on its website that the singer’s mother, Lynne, as well as friends Alli Sims and Sam Lutfi were inside Britney’s mansion when police arrived.

According to the LA Times, authorities said the welfare hold was staged at the request of Spears’ psychiatrist. Police or a mental health professional can request an emergency hold if a person is deemed to be a danger to himself/herself or others, People notes. It also quotes an anonymous source that said Spears “has been prescribed medication she refuses to take,” instead “driving around her neighborhood like a mad-woman.”

Earlier this week, Barbara Walters revealed on her ABC show “The View” that Lutfi had contacted her and made some comments regarding Spears’ condition. He said she has “mental issues which are treatable” and revealed that she had consulted a psychiatrist and that she would start “some kind of treatment.”

After the chaotic events of Jan. 3 when Spears refused to hand Sean Preston, 2, and Jayden James, 1, to her ex-husband at the scheduled time, she lost custody of the two boys. It was revealed a few days ago that Commissioner Scott Gordon ruled Spears can only have “telephonic contact with the minor children” for now.