Explain the conditions that supervisors must be carefully aware of that will convert a consensual and voluntary field encounter with a person into a police detention or worse, a constructive or de facto arrest.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Supervisors must be carefully aware of conditions that will convert a consensual and voluntary field encounter with a person into a police detention or worse, a constructive or de facto arrest. An officer can approach a person, and attempt to speak with them at any time, as long as this approach is not fueled by race, ethnicity, or country of origin. The reason may even be based on a hunch or a gut feeling; however, the officer must know they have no authority to stop the person, and the person has no obligation to answer any questions put to them. A police officer need not have any suspicion that the person is engaged in criminal activity in order to approach and speak to the person, as long as the officer is careful not to exert physical control or official authority over the person. The person approached or a similarly situated person should feel they would have been free to leave at any time during the police-citizen encounter. Officers may ask a person non-accusatory questions such as a person's name, address, and destination-that is, as long as those questions are related to the objective, credible reason for the approach, and if the questions are asked in a non-accusatory manner. The courts have generally ruled that when a police-citizen contact is consensual, it does not constitute a seizure, as long as a reasonable person would believe they are free to leave at any time.