Can a pedestrian be questioned in the middle of the night by the police?

Circumstances short of probable cause may afford adequate basis for questioning a pedestrian, either at night or in the daytime. In Hood v. Superior Court, 220 A.C.A. 241, 244, 33 Cal.Rptr. 782, 784, the court said: 'The California rule, that merely stopping a car in the course of a criminal investigation does not require that there be reasonable grounds for the arrest of the occupants, was recently reaffirmed in

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People v. Cowman, 223 A.C.A. 110, 118, 35 Cal.Rptr. 528, 534: 'The rationale of all these decisions is that an officer of the law, employed to maintain the peace and to prevent crime, as well as to apprehend criminals after the fact, has both the right and the duty to make reasonable investigation of all suspicious activities even though the nature thereof may fall short of grounds sufficient to justify an arrest or a search of the persons or the effects of the suspects. Experienced police officers naturally develop an ability to perceive the unusual and the suspicious which is of enormous value in the difficult task of protecting the security and safety of law-abiding citizens. The benefit thereof should not be lost because the cold record before a reviewing court does not contain all the particularized perceptions which may have been so meaningful at the scene.'

People v. Gonzales, 214 Cal.App.2d 168, 172, 29 Cal.Rptr. 318, 321: 'Under such circumstances the information was not sufficient to constitute reasonable cause for entering appellant's apartment. The information was sufficient, however, to justify the officers in making an investigation by going to the apartment and seeking an interview with defendant.'

People v. Mickelson, 59 Cal.2d 448, 450, 452, 30 Cal.Rptr. 18, 20, 380 P.2d 658, 660: 'We do not believe that our rule permitting temporary detention for questioning conflicts with the Fourth Amendment. It strikes a balance between a person's interest in immunity from police interference and the community's interest in law enforcement. It wards off pressure to equate reasonable cause to investigate with reasonable cause to arrest, thus protecting the innocent from the risk of arrest when no more than reasonable investigation is justified.'