Which is the term for a brief detention used to investigate a suspected crime?

• A. Investigative detention
• B. Stop and frisk
• C. Consensual contact
• D. Arrest

Answer: (A)

Investigative detention is a brief detention used to investigate a suspected crime. It is a limited seizure of a person based on reasonable suspicion that the individual is involved in criminal activity, and it must be confined in time and scope to allow the officer to confirm or dispel the suspicion without becoming an arrest. This concept sits between a normal stop and questioning and a full arrest: it stops short of detaining someone as a suspect under probable cause, but it goes beyond mere voluntary conversation.

Stop and frisk is a specific tactic that can occur during an investigative detention when the officer has reasonable suspicion that the person may be armed and dangerous, allowing a limited frisk for weapons. Consensual contact is voluntary and does not involve detention by coercion. An arrest is a formal taking into custody based on probable cause.