Recently, I discuss the influence of a street encounter on a defendant’s constitutional rights and explained that when a suspect’s freedom of movement is curtailed a “seizure” in the constitutional sense may result.

The actual seizure of a person can result during an investigative detention or an arrest. Under an investigative detention, a police officer will generally restrict the person’s movement without placing the person under arrest.  These encounters are  usually short in duration.  In order to subject a person to an investigative detention, the government must establish an articulable suspicion that the suspect has violated the law.  Articulable suspicion is a suspicion that can be “particularized.” It is less than the evidence needed to establish probable cause. 

An investigative stop can mature into an arrest, under certain circumstances.  The facts to be used to determine this issue are: (a)  the length of the detention, given the purpose of the original stop; (b) the fear and humiliation the official conduct produces; (c) the movement of the suspect to another location, isolation of the suspect; and (e) the use of handcuffs.