Arrest, Detention, Search, and Seizure Concepts
Arrest, Detention, Search, and Seizure Concepts
This domain tests the line between a consensual encounter, an investigative detention, and an arrest, plus what a private guard may search. Precision matters because private guards are not police and usually lack a warrant.
Core rules
- A consensual encounter needs no suspicion; the person may leave.
- A detention is a brief, non-consensual restriction supported by reasonable suspicion under the guard’s legal authority and policy. A private guard’s detention authority is narrower than a police officer’s Terry stop.
- New Mexico recognizes limited common-law citizen’s arrest: a private person may arrest for a felony committed in the person’s presence and, in narrow circumstances, a breach of the peace. Never arrest for a mere ordinance violation.
- Searches require consent, a valid legal exception, or police authority. A guard may ask for consent, but refusal is not proof of guilt.
- The Fourth Amendment limits government action; a private guard who acts as an agent of police can be treated as a state actor.
Worked example
A store’s EAS alarm sounds as a customer leaves. The guard asks the customer to return and to open a bag. The customer refuses. The guard may keep the customer in a safe area only if the guard has probable cause under the merchant-detention policy and calls police; the guard may not physically search the bag. If police direct the guard to hold the person, the guard should document that direction.
Traps
Saying “citizen’s arrest” covers any crime; searching a bag after a refusal; reciting Miranda as if the guard must; confusing a private search with a police search; holding someone “until they calm down.”
Key points
- Encounter, detention, and arrest are different.
- Private arrest authority is narrow.
- Search needs consent or a lawful exception.
- Refusal to consent is not guilt.
- Document police direction and timing.