In the wake of demonstrations from area high-schoolers, multiple law enforcement agencies in Clovis and at least one other area city warned that adults involved could face criminal charges — what some have argued was an unnecessary threat to free speech.
Clovis police said recordings from a special surveillance vehicle that cased the protestors and that they call Camera on Wheels, or their COW vehicle, and about 500 surveillance cameras, could be used as evidence.
The surveillance of peaceful protesters is troubling, according to Saira Hussain, senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit focused on free speech and digital privacy.
“I think it’s absolutely ridiculous,” she told The Fresno Bee.
Whether any adults are charged, the “mission creep” of cameras used by police is concerning, Hussain said.
“If people know that law enforcement is trying to obtain video footage of protected First Amendment activity like a protest in order to identify people and then charge them criminally, of course, that’s going to have a chilling effect,” she said. “That is exactly what the First Amendment seeks to protect against.”
Clovis, Fresno, and other area teenagers held anti-ICE protests over the past week as they marched off-campus, held signs, and chanted during school hours. Many did so without permission from their school districts.
Clovis police made a joint announcement with Clovis Unified School District late Wednesday that police would seek charges for adults — two so far — they suspected of a misdemeanor crime of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Sanger police followed suit the next day with a similar declaration.
“Adults who encourage or assist minors in leaving campus during instructional hours, in violation of the Education Code, may face misdemeanor charges under California Penal Code section 272,” Sanger police said in a Facebook message.
The penal code cited by Clovis and Sanger police can commonly apply to parents arrested or charged over a minor’s chronic absenteeism or for an adult who provides alcohol to children, legal experts noted.
Fresno police, who monitor a city with the third-largest school district in the state in Fresno Unified, have not so far pursued any such delinquency cases, but they’re not off the table, according to Lt. Larry Bowlan.
“We will take appropriate action with adults or juveniles when committing crimes, but each of these incidents is looked at individually, and the appropriate course of action is taken based on whether the elements of a crime are met,” he said in an email to The Fresno Bee.
The Clovis Police Department has a new surveillance vehicle called the Camera On Wheels (COW) which uses an extended camera on its rooftop for 360 degree views. The vehicle, formerly used for K9, can be parked and left unmanned. Photographed Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025 in Clovis. ERIC PAUL ZAMORA ezamora@fresnobee.com
A Fresno police officer on motorcycle watches Washington Union students march to Fresno City Hall Monday, Feb 2, 2026 in Fresno. ERIC PAUL ZAMORA ezamora@fresnobee.com Clovis adults to face misdemeanor charges from protests
The Fresno County District Attorney’s Office had not received any cases related to adults at the protests as of Thursday, according to a spokesperson.
One adult near the protest in Clovis who spoke to The Bee said he and others accompanied the young people to watch over their safety. He said they were at times met by aggressive adult counter protestors.
Veteran defense attorney David Mugridge said the potential Clovis case against adults or parents at a student protest is uncommon and not one he’s seen in nearly 40 years practicing law. But it’s also not a “minor technicality,” he said.
Adults arriving to a protest and participating are not likely to have run afoul of the law, he said, but encouraging students to leave school or helping them to leave without permission could become a legal issue.
“They’re probably very well-intentioned,” he said. “Even very well-intentioned people need to follow the law.”
Handing out protest signs and water would likely not rise to the level of a violation, according to Roger Bonakdar, a trial attorney of two decades. If the adults told the high-schoolers to block the street or commit vandalism, then there would be a more clear violation.
“If these were adults, none of it would matter, right?” he said. “It’s because they’re children, and because you’re talking about a school day and taking them away from a school day and instruction that all this dialogue even exists.”
Officers monitor maps, street video cameras and police officer calls inside the Fresno police department’s real time crime center at police headquarters on Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. The department began using artificial intelligence to write some of their reports in the past year. CRAIG KOHLRUSS ckohlruss@fresnobee.com
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Reporter Thaddeus Miller has covered cities in the central San Joaquin Valley since 2010, writing about everything from breaking news to government and police accountability. A native of Fresno, he joined The Fresno Bee in 2019 after time in Merced and Los Banos.