Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

It really does not matter what it "legally" was (detention, in my opinion). What matters is how the police recorded it. You need to request your "record" from the California Department of Justice yourself, and you'll find out what shows up. If it was an arrest, you might want to petition for factual innocence before applying for any PD jobs. Here is a link to get the DOJ background record:

http://ag.ca.gov/fingerprints/applicants.php

If it went down as an arrest, then you might be well advised to read up on factual innocence petitions and then think about doing one. Here are links to learn about them. It is my specialty. I give Mandatory Continuing Legal Eduction (MCLE) classes to lawyers on this topic.

http://lawyer-expungement.com/petition.htm

http://lawyer-expungement.com/results.htm