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The Pleasanton Police Department seized over $130,000 of illegal products from three different smoke shops on Aug. 8 thanks to the Tobacco Grant Program, state funding that helps law enforcement agencies curb the unlawful sale of prohibited products.
PPD officials said they had conducted a special operation in collaboration with the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) and Pleasanton’s code enforcement officer, according to an Aug. 14 social media post. The joint team inspected smoke shops in the city suspected of selling products to minors.
“Flavored tobacco sales are a concern throughout California,” PPD Sgt. Marty Billdt told the Weekly. “We plan to conduct more operations as these types of operations are one of our grant goals.”
Police agencies in the Tri-Valley agree that tobacco education and enforcing the ban is important, but they also acknowledge that there is more work to be done to keep kids away from harmful tobacco products like flavored vapes. And for some of them, that work includes using grant money to conduct similar operations like the one PPD did earlier this month.
“This year’s inspections have so far been done without a grant. We have been using department time to respond to complaints, no special operations,” said Azenith Smith, public information officer for the Livermore Police Department. “Livermore Police has applied for a grant for the upcoming two fiscal years. We will know in October if we were granted that money.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law banning retailers from selling most flavored tobacco products — including flavored vapes — in 2020 amid concerns about increasing numbers of teenagers using e-cigarettes and tobacco. Between then and the actual implementation of the law in 2022, cities like Pleasanton, Livermore and Dublin all passed similar bans.
Police agencies have discovered that not all tobacco retailers are following the law and have continued selling these products in their stores as well as to minors.
“In 2020 the City of Dublin adopted a municipal code that banned the sale of flavored tobacco and electronic smoking devices. During that year we had several problematic retailers that conducted prolific sales to minors,” Dublin Police Services Capt. Miguel Campos said. “One of the businesses had multiple violations resulting in multiple citations and eventually the revocation of their tobacco sales permit.”
The grant program that funded Pleasanton’s recent operation, which is administered by the office of the state’s attorney general, was created in 2017 and has since distributed about $184.7 million in grant funding to local law enforcement agencies, according to the Department of Justice website. The site also states that the funds come from increased taxes placed on cigarettes.
PPD was awarded $430,000 in grant money to fund enforcement operations such as retail stings and shoulder-tap operations like the one on Aug. 8, which helped officers seize 4,300 units of flavored tobacco and psilocybin mushrooms and led the CDTFA to seize multiple illegal marijuana products.
According to PPD, “Businesses found in violation of selling flavored tobacco were issued citations. In some cases, the tobacco sales license can be suspended for 30 days.”
Billdt said PPD was first awarded the grant in July 2022 and that it will last until June 30, 2026. He said since the grant started in January 2023, the Aug. 8 operation was the first of its size — PPD conducted decoy operations this past June where they visited 23 stores but nothing came close to the most recent one this month.
In Livermore, Smith said they have done similar work but without the grant money. She touched on a May 13 joint cooperation with the CDTFA as well where they performed regulatory inspections of several tobacco retailers in Livermore.
“The inspections stem from numerous complaints by Livermore parents and school officials of illegal nicotine use, especially the selling of flavored vapes to minors,” Smith said.
She said during the inspections, LPD found illegal tobacco and cannabis products at five stores and the two agencies seized more than 8,200 prohibited, unlicensed and illegal tobacco and cannabis products that all had a retail value of about $172,000. Smith said three smoke shops were cited this year.
“Our young people are using vaping nicotine products without knowing the repercussions,” Livermore Police Officer Nathan Pearlman said in a statement. “By taking away the supply, it will prevent juveniles from easily getting their hands on these products.”
While Dublin Police Chief Nate Schmidt told the Weekly the city does conduct enforcement using the state’s grant money, Campos said it hasn’t done any raids or has worked with the CDTFA like the prior two agencies.
Campos said Dublin had a tobacco enforcement program for years that was focused on stores selling tobacco to minors but that over the last four years, that program has evolved to also include tobacco retailer inspections, school-related investigations and officers on campus who offer education on substances like tobacco.
He said Dublin received the tobacco grant in 2021 and that it lasted until this past July. During that time, Campos said the department conducted in-store minor decoy operations, undercover officer operations, shoulder tap operations and in-store inspections at all 23 tobacco retailers in Dublin.
The department usually conducts three operations per quarter to make sure these stores are not selling to minors or selling illegal products; however, Campos said they still usually have at least two violations where stores sell to a minor.
“Those cases are sent to the District Attorney’s Office for prosecution,” Campos said. “We conducted several successful shoulder tap operations that resulted in citizens buying tobacco products for underaged decoys. Those cases were also sent to the District Attorney’s Office for prosecution.”
He noted that they have not had any recent violations involving flavored tobacco or electronic smoking devices being sold.
Campos also said officers going to schools to educate kids on the dangers of tobacco — and having officers investigate the sales of these products at schools — coupled with stores upgrading their cash registers to require swiping valid identification has all helped lower the number of people using tobacco and stores selling these products.
“We believe that our continued enforcement including citations and tobacco retailer permit revocations has helped to reduce the instances of problematic retailers,” Campos said. “The funding from the California Department of Justice Tobacco Grant Program helped to keep the program and staffing running as well as adding additional components of retailer education as well as the education of our school aged students.”
Dublin has applied for the new grant cycle and is hoping to get the funding to continue its tobacco enforcement program.
While the San Ramon Police Department does not receive funds from the state grant program, Lt. Tami Williams said the city has recently added a second school resource officer to its Youth Services Program, which helps by providing education and addressing concerns regarding youth tobacco use on campuses. She noted, however, that the city “does not currently conduct organized operations that target these shops.”
