07-04-2025
Here are the top 10 reasons police gave for traffic stops in Fresno and Clovis
Police officers in Fresno and Clovis made some 30,000 traffic stops between them in a year, according to the latest data available, but the top violations did not rank the same in the neighboring cities.
Data released at the start of the year under the Racial and Identity Profiling Act of 2015 details how agencies across the state use traffic stops, the demographic makeup of the residents stopped and the outcomes of each interaction.
The top 10 reasons in each city are almost identical, but the rate they are enforced is slightly different, data shows.
Both of Fresno County's largest cities tallied stops for unsafe speed in their top two violations — No. 1 for Fresno police (43%) and No. 2 for Clovis officers (22%).
The No. 1 reason drivers were contacted by police in Clovis was for the lack of a registration, or 23% of traffic stops, data shows.
Critics of policing often cite a violation like an expired registration, an administrative or non-moving violation, as an example of a 'pre-text' stop. A pre-text stop is any time a law enforcement officer conducts a traffic stop for a minor violation in order to further investigate for a potentially more serious crime.
Critics argue pre-text stops are used in a discriminatory way, noting people of color are stopped at higher rates per capita. The stops are a common police practice that has come under scrutiny in some larger cities in recent years.
The second most common Fresno police traffic infraction was for failure to stop at a stop sign, which made up 7% of traffic stops, according to the data.
The largest group of people stopped in Clovis were white at 45%, but that is disproportionately low in a city that is 57% white, according to the U.S. Census.
The RIPA data is based on the perception of the officers, and not necessarily based on how the residents describe themselves.
Black drivers in Clovis made up 8% of the traffic stops, the data showed. That's a significantly higher rate than the make of the Black population in Clovis, which is 2.2%.
Drivers that police identified as Hispanic made up 36% of the traffic stops and they make up 32% of those living in town.
The majority of Fresno residents stopped by officers — 53% —were perceived to be Hispanic or Latino, a proportion slightly higher than their population size. The U.S. Census said Latinos made up half of the Fresno population.
While Black drivers and pedestrians were stopped at nearly twice the rate as their population in Fresno, white and Asian residents were less likely to be stopped.
