2 Employees at 2 Local Businesses Cited During Decoy Operation

On Tuesday, November 26, 2013, Officers from the Pleasanton Police Department, in cooperation with the Alameda County Public Health Department, conducted a decoy operation targeting the sales of tobacco products to persons under 18 years of age.  The City of Pleasanton currently has 45 establishments selling tobacco products.  The underage decoys were accompanied by plain clothes officers during each site visit.  

During the operation 41 locations were visited; four were not open for business. Thirty-nine businesses complied with the law and refused to sell cigarettes to the underage decoys. The Raley’s store located at 5420 Sunol Blvd. and the Shell gas station located at 5251 Hopyard Rd., sold a tobacco product to a decoy and the responsible clerk was cited.

California law prohibits the sale of cigarettes to minors, 308(a) PC.  Violators of this section are subject to either a misdemeanor criminal action or a civil action. Fines for a first offense begin at $200.00. While visiting each establishment officers inspected the premises to ensure they were in compliance with mandatory posting of signs regarding the prohibition of tobacco sales to persons under 18 years of age. Officers also checked each business to make sure they had a valid Tobacco Retail License.

In order to ensure on-going compliance with the law, the Pleasanton Police Department will conduct similar operations in the near future.