Burlingame PD receives grant to fight teen smoking

The Burlingame-Hillsborough publication Patch ran a story about a grant the Burlingame CA Police Department has received to fight illegal teen smoking. The California Department of Justice awarded the Burlingame PD this grant in the amount of $40,566. The grant’s primary purpose is to put the kibosh on the illegal sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products to minors. It is distributed through the Tobacco Grant Program.

The California Department of Public Health posted an announcement that, as of June 9, 2016, no retailer is permitted to sell tobacco products to anyone under the age of 21.

When California’s Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced the grant recipients on Oct. 1, he said, “Tobacco is a serious threat to public health, especially to California’s youth.”

He added, “These grants will support local communities in enforcing the law and educating kids about the harms of tobacco products.”

The Burlingame PD plans to use the grant to design tobacco education programs targeted to minors, young adults, and their parents. The department will also be working on projects for enforcing current law.

These projects include:

• Compliance checks at local retailers selling tobacco products
• Enforcement operations in areas where they expect minors to be present.

Grant facts

The funding mechanism for the Tobacco Grant Program is the passage of Proposition 56. This ballot initiative was also known as the the California Healthcare, Research and Prevention Tobacco Tax Act of 2016.

According to Ballotpedia, California voters approved this proposition with 64.43% voting “yes.”

The approved law involved raising the cigarette tax by $2.00 per pack. There is a similar tax for all other tobacco products. It became effective in April of 2017. The expenditure plan for the tax revenue from this law allocates millions of dollars every year to the California Department of Justice. The purpose of these allocations is to support hiring peace officers tasked with investigations and compliance checks to enforce the law regarding tobacco use by minors.