What is the test for determining whether a search or seizure under the Fourth Amendment takes place?

"In reviewing the trial court's ruling on the suppression motion, we uphold any factual finding, express or implied, that is supported by substantial evidence, but we independently assess, as a matter of law, whether the challenged search or seizure conforms to constitutional standards of reasonableness." (People v. Hughes (2002) 27 Cal.4th 287, 327.)

A contact between an individual and a member of law enforcement is not always a detention or arrest, which will implicate Fourth Amendment protections. "Law enforcement officers do not violate the Fourth Amendment by merely approaching an individual on the street or in another public place, by asking him if he is willing to answer some questions, by putting questions to him if the person is willing to listen, or by offering in evidence in a criminal prosecution his voluntary answers to such questions. [Citations.] Nor would the fact that the officer identifies himself as a police officer, without more, convert the encounter into a seizure requiring some level of objective justification. [Citation.] . . . If there is no detentionno seizure within the meaning of

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the Fourth Amendmentthen no constitutional rights have been infringed." (Florida v. Royer (1983) 460 U.S. 491, 497-498.)

In order to determine whether an encounter constitutes a seizure, "a court must consider all the circumstances surrounding the encounter to determine whether the police conduct would have communicated to a reasonable person that the person was not free to decline the officers' requests or otherwise terminate the encounter." (Florida v. Bostick (1991) 501 U.S. 429, 439.)