Illegal Detentions and Observations

• Consensual Encounters
• Detentions
• Observations Made During an Illegal Detention

Observations made by a law enforcement officer, indicating that a person may be armed, when those observations occur during an illegal detention, are illegal in themselves.  A firearm found as a result of an illegal observation is to be suppressed as a product of that illegal observation.

In early June, 2020, Los Angeles and other surrounding cities had been experiencing wide-spread looting and rioting following a “Black Lives Matter” protest.  As noted in the dissenting opinion, “there was great unrest throughout (Los Angeles) county. . . . National Guard troops and police officers guarded the barricaded steps of Los Angeles City Hall and tried to restore order in Santa Monica and Long Beach. For two days, looters spent hours vandalizing and breaking into stores, stealing items and setting fires ....