Policy Text
TRAINING BULLETIN
Evaluation Coordinator: Commander
Automatic Revision Cycle: Years
partment Training Bulletins shall be used to advise members of current police techniques and
procedures and shall constitute official policy.” Index Number: I-M
Alpha Index: Contacts, Detentions, and
Arrests Date of Issue / Revision
23 Jul 98
“De
Contacts, Detentions, and Arrests*
This Training Bulletin provides officers with cu rrent information on contacts, detentions, and
arrests.
Additional information about contacts, detentions, and arrests can be found in Department
Training Bulletins on related subjects; the Alam eda County District Attorney's Office quarterly
publication, Point of View; and the Peace Officers' Legal Sourcebook. Officers can also contact
the Department's law instructors through the Training Section. As the following pages demonstrate, the courts of ten use a simple criteria to help determine the
legality of an officer's actions in making contacts, detentions, and arrests. The courts ask if the
officer's actions were reasonable based on the information the officer had at the time and the
situation with which the officer was confronted.
The rules of law, however, change frequently. Of ficers are encouraged to avail themselves of all
relevant publications and instructional courses to stay abreast of the changes.
* In this Training Bulletin, much of the information on Detentions is taken from Detentions, in the
Winter, 1996 issue of Point of View. Much of the information on Arrests is taken from The Law of
Arrest, in the Fall 1997 issue of Point of View. Additions information was provided by the
California Legal Sourcebook.
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Contacts, Detentions, and Arrests, Index Number I-M
Contacts
Contact Defined
A contact is a face-to-face communication between an officer and a private person under
circumstances in which the person is free to leave.
The California Supreme Coma refers to a contact as a "consensual encounter."
The standard for initiating a contact is not "proba ble cause," "reasonable suspicion," or any other
specific indication of criminal activity. An offi cer may undertake a contact with anyone at any
time as long as the officer is in a place he or she has a legal right to be.
Unless an officer has probable cause to believe an arrest should be made or that detention is
justified, an officer's communication with a private person begins with a contact.
Conduct during a Contact
A person contacted may not be halted, detained, or pat searched against his/her will. A person may
not be required to answer questions or to cooperate in any way against his/her wishes. If a person
refuses to cooperate, the person must be permitted to leave unless an officer has obtained or
developed sufficient additional information to justify a detention or arrest.
Asking someone for identification or personal information does not necessarily elevate a contact
to a detention as long as the person reasonably belie ves that he or she is free to leave. Refusal by
someone to provide identification or personal information during a contact does not, by itself, elevate the contact to a detention.
Retention of a person's identification through the length of a contact may elevate a contact to a
detention.
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23 Jul 98 ● Oakland Police Department
Possible Consequences Associated
With Inadvertently Elevating a Contact
Into an Unlawful Detention
If a peace officer unreasonably rest ricts the movement of a private person, such as by blocking a
person's exit, or conveys the message that the subj ect is not free to leave when no specific reason
exists to justify a detention or an arrest, the o fficer may be subject to the following consequences:
• Criminal prosecution under Penal Code Section 236, false imprisonment
• Suppression of evidence discovered (exclusionary rule)
• Civil and / or criminal prosecution for violation of civil rights
Detentions
Detention Defined
An officer detains a suspect in or der to determine if the detainee is involved in criminal activity.
For example, an officer might detain a pedestrian acting suspiciously, a driver of a car leaving an
area where a robbery or burglary has just occurred, a person involved in a secretive hand-to-hand
exchange in a high drug area, a man staggering on a sidewalk, or a speeding motorist. No police action is as commonplace or productive.
Rules Governing Detentions
Detaining a suspect triggers certain procedural rules which, if violated, may result in the suppression of all evidence obtained as a result of the detention.
These rules are concerned with two separate aspects of detentions:
1. Grounds to Detain Was the detention justified? In other words, did the officers have reasonable suspicion to
believe the detainee had committed, was committing, or was about to commit a crime'?
2. Detention Procedure
After the detainee was stopped, did the officers conduct their investigation in a reasonable manner?
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Contacts, Detentions, and Arrests, Index Number I-M
1. Grounds to Detain
A. Grounds to Detain: "Reasonable Suspicion"
Reasonable Suspicion is a term used to describe tote minimum level of suspicion required to lawfully detain a suspect or make a car stop.
Reasonable suspicion exists when the detain ing officer or the officer authorizing the
detention is aware of specific facts which reas onably indicate that a crime is occurring,
has occurred, or is about to occur, and the person to be detained is involved in that activity.
Reasonable suspicion is similar to probable cause, in that both terms describe a particular
level of suspicion. They diffe r, however, in that reasonably suspicion may be based on
information that is not as incriminating or