Can I End a Police Interaction? (Detentions versus Consensual Encounters) Imagine you are on foot or in a vehicle and the police stop to question you. After a while, you haven't been arrested and want the interaction to end. Should you just walk or drive away if you haven't committed a crime? Of course not. Can the police keep you indefinitely without an arrest? No. So how are you supposed to know if you can leave? You ask. As background, the police are allowed to detain you for investigation--which may or may not lead to your arrest--when they have reasonable suspicion that you may be engaged in criminal activity (and since I get this question all the time, if you're being pulled over for a traffic stop, yes, you are being detained). While being detained, you are not free to leave for as long as is reasonably necessary for the police to conduct their investigation. Other times, the police suspect that you might have done something wrong, but they don't have the requisite "reasonable suspicion" needed to lawfully detain you for an investigation. So, in this situation, they chat you up to find out more. This interaction is known as a "consensual encounter." In these encounters, the police will try to get you talking to determine whether you've committed a crime. Consensual encounters can evolve into a detention or an arrest based on things the person says or does. Consensual encounters (which are voluntary) and detentions (which are not) often feel identical because you don't know what the officer knows. The only way to find out whether it's a consensual encounter and you are free to leave is to ask: "Am I free to go, officer, or am I being detained?" If you're being detained, you cannot leave. Most often, the officer will tell you why you're being detained. If the officer doesn't, you can ask for the reason. The bottom line: unless you are being detained or arrested, you have a right to terminate an encounter with the police. Although the officer cannot lawfully prevent you from leaving during a consensual encounter, it is unlikely that you'll be released without some sort of push-back. The officer may say, "I'm just trying to talk with you" or "What's the problem? Have you done something that I should know about?" At that point, repeat the question, respectfully and patiently: "Am I free to go, officer, or am I being detained?" Excerpted from What They Don't Teach Teens: Life Safety Skills for Teens and the Adults Who Care for Them by Jonathan Cristall All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.