NRS 171.123

Temporary detention by peace officer of person suspected of crime or civil infraction or of violating conditions of parole or probation: Limitations

Known as the Uniform Act

The act spans §§ 171–171 (111 sections).

Applied in 46 court decisions — leading case Hiibel v. Sixth Judicial District Court of Nevada Humboldt County et al. (2004)

Most recently applied in 141 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 67 - STATE v. DUBUC (RICKY) (CRIMINAL) (December 2025)

(Added to NRS by 1969, 535; A 1973, 597; 1975, 1200; 1987, 1172; 1995, 2068; 2021, 3353)

How often courts cite this section

citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

1. Any peace officer may detain any person whom the officer encounters under circumstances which reasonably indicate that the person has committed, is committing or is about to commit a crime or civil infraction.

2. Any peace officer may detain any person the officer encounters under circumstances which reasonably indicate that the person has violated or is violating the conditions of the person’s parole or probation.

3. The officer may detain the person pursuant to this section only to ascertain the person’s identity and the suspicious circumstances surrounding the person’s presence abroad. Any person so detained shall identify himself or herself, but may not be compelled to answer any other inquiry of any peace officer.

4. A person must not be detained longer than is reasonably necessary to effect the purposes of this section, and in no event longer than 60 minutes. The detention must not extend beyond the place or the immediate vicinity of the place where the detention was first effected, unless the person is arrested.

5. As used in this section, “civil infraction” has the meaning ascribed to it in NRS 481.015.

Official source: Nevada Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Nevada statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.