Last edited Wed Apr 17, 2013, 03:06 PM - Edit history (1)
It's a blurry line. Supposedly the distinction lies in the different standards for detention and arrest. Detention requires only a reasonable suspicion that the detained has committed a crime or is about to. The police can keep you by force, and ask you questions. This is an investigative detention and supposedly there are limits to how far they can go. Arrest requires probable cause to believe that you indeed have committed a crime. Attempt to leave when you are being detained and that in itself will probably be used as probable cause to arrest you, so you can see how the line gets blurred very quickly. Also, if you are required to "go downtown for questioning" with the police, that is ipso facto an arrest, but only if they REQUIRE you to do so. You might volunteer to a nice polite request believing yourself to have no option - and beware if you do. Anything they say or do to make the detained believe (based on the standard of a reasonable inference made by a reasonable person) that he or she will not be allowed to leave the interview after answering some questions, or that there is no option but to agree to accompany the police elsewhere for the interview, then that subject is under arrest from the point of view of the law, whether they've been told they are under arrest or not. And when subjects are under arrest their Miranda rights apply - but not before then. So you can see how it is to the advantage of the police to question suspects informally for as long as they can, without having them "in custody," while doing nothing to dispel the likely assumption by the detained person that they are under arrest and must talk or else stand on their 5th amendment rights to remain silent. Please come down to the station cafeteria and help Officer Friendly out on a few points, if you would be so kind? It's his feeding time, and when his blood sugar is low he gets pains in his ankles. If you go voluntarily, not under compulsion, they aren't compelled to inform you that you have a right to a lawyer and a right to keep your mouth shut. So they don't want you in custody necessarily if they sense you might make incriminating statements under slight pressure.
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