Local Law Enforcement to Assist State in Reducing Youth Access
to Tobacco:
Police & Sheriffs' Participation Announced
Contact: Lynn M. Walding, Administrator 515.281-7402 / 515.229.7777
Des Moines, Iowa. (January 18, 2001) – Nearly 80 of Iowa’s
local law enforcement departments, covering approximately 60 percent
of the state’s 6,000 tobacco retailers, have taken the Iowa
Pledge to help reduce youth access to tobacco and to curtail teen
smoking, according to Lynn Walding, Administrator of the Iowa Alcoholic
Beverages Division (Iowa ABD).
Making the announcement at today’s Iowa Tobacco Advisory Committee
(ITACom) meeting, Walding indicated that the departments -- city
police departments and county sheriff’s offices across the
state -- have agreed to work in coordination with the Iowa ABD to
enforce Iowa’s new tobacco laws and to conduct compliance checks
on local tobacco retailers.
“The support and commitment of local law enforcement officials
will provide a strong ally in the state’s effort to reduce
teen smoking,” Walding said. “By taking the Iowa Pledge,
these departments and their officers are partnering with the state
to deter illegal sales, possession and use of tobacco by Iowa’s
kids.”
Recently-announced SYNAR results, the statistical sampling of the
state’s retail compliance rate, indicate that 71 percent of
Iowa’s retailers are in compliance with state tobacco laws.
“As a state, Iowa can, must and will do a better job of restricting
youth access to tobacco. The goal is not only to gain the commitment
of responsible vendors, but to achieve full compliance of all tobacco
retailers in Iowa, and to achieve that end in short order,”
stated Governor Tom Vilsack.
Several participating law enforcement agencies have already begun
conducting compliance checks in their communities. The West Des
Moines Police Department, for example, recently completed compliance
checks of all 51 tobacco retailers in that community, with a reported
local compliance rate of 75 percent. A second check of the town’s
tobacco retailers is planned later in the spring, with the West
Des Moines Police Department offering compliance training to local
retailers in the interim.
The Iowa ABD, in cooperation with local law enforcement, will conduct
12,000 compliance checks (two checks of each of the state’s
6,000 tobacco retailers) between now and June 30, 2001. “Enforcement,
education and continuity are key to the success of the Iowa Pledge
program and will reduce the sales of tobacco to kids,” Walding
stated. “An effective enforcement program must be community
based; simply stated, participation of law enforcement at the local
level is critical to the overall success of the state’s tobacco
initiative.”
The Iowa Pledge program, developed by the Iowa ABD last summer,
asks:
- Iowa’s kids to pledge not to use tobacco products;
- Iowa’s retailers to pledge not to sell tobacco products
to kids; &
- Iowa’s law enforcement community to pledge to enforce Iowa’s
new tobacco laws.
To accomplish its mission the Iowa ABD has added a tobacco enforcement
division, led by Bureau Chief Gary Marker, which includes five field
agents with responsibility to work with local law enforcement entities,
community partnerships and tobacco retailers.
Iowa’s ABD Tobacco Enforcement Program is funded by an appropriation
of the Iowa Legislature this past year through funds generated by
the master tobacco settlement with tobacco companies. No state tax
revenues are used to support this effort. Studies have shown that
the combination of retailer education and tobacco law enforcement
efforts can effectively reduce illegal sales of tobacco to minors
and help reduce teen smoking. Currently, 37 percent of Iowa teens
report the use of tobacco products.
Editor’s Note: A complete list of tobacco enforcement partners
is attached in a separate e-mail file. |
