Multiple police officers contacting persons on the street, with a police vehicle’s emergency lights

• Consensual Encounters vs. Detentions
• A Show of Authority as a Detention
• Citizen Information and Reasonable Suspicion

The use of a patrol vehicle’s emergency lights and four officers surrounding a suspect’s vehicle constitutes a detention which, if not supported by at least a reasonable suspicion, is illegal.  Information from a private citizen, as reported to the police, that persons are engaged in “shady activity,” without further explanation, is insufficient to constitute the reasonable suspicion necessary to justify a detention.

On March 13th, 2019, at around 6:00 p.m. four San Diego patrol officers were handling an unspecified issue in the Encanto neighborhood of southeast San Diego when they were approached by a woman who drove up in her car and stopped to talk to them.  She told one of the officers (as recorded [without audio] on the officer’s body worn camera in a short 40 second ....