On Thursday, August 4, the Grand Forks Police Department’s Education and Outreach Bureau along with area under-age buyers conducted tobacco compliance checks. These tobacco compliance checks were done in compliance with SYNAR grant funding through the Grand Forks Public Health Department and the ND Department of Health.
The Police Department uses under-age buyers from the community who are under 21 years of age. The under-age buyer enters establishments that sell tobacco products under the supervision of a police officer in accordance with city ordinance 9-0217. The under-age buyer attempts to purchase tobacco products while in no way concealing their actual age and promptly displaying ID when asked for it.
The officers and under-age buyers checked 16 businesses within the city of Grand Forks that had tobacco licenses that were issued by the state of North Dakota. Of the 16businesses that were checked there were four failures. These four failures had a citation issued to the clerk that sold the tobacco product. The store will also face an administrative sanction.
The business’ that sold tobacco products to our underage buyers were:
- Simonson’s (310 Gateway Drive)
- Simonson’s Travel Center (4720 Gateway Drive)
- Hugo’s Grocery Store (1315 S. Columbia Road)
- Walmart (5755 Gateway Drive)
