Attorney General Becerra Awards Mammoth Lakes Police Department, Mammoth Lakes $451,581 to Combat Illegal Tobacco Use Among Minors
(Press release)
Mammoth Lakes, CA – Mammoth Lakes Police Department, Mammoth Lakes, CA was awarded $451,581 in state grant funding from California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to combat the illegal sale of cigarettes and tobacco products to minors. The grants, $37.5 million in total, were distributed to 71 local entities throughout the state. They will fund operations, retailer training programs, the installation of signage, youth outreach, tobacco retail license inspections, training for sworn personnel, and other activities.
“Our schools have seen a dramatic increase in underage smoking and vaping. This grant will serve to fund a full time School Resource Officer (SRO) for two years who will conduct, along with their other normal SRO duties, programs focused on anti-tobacco campaigns in our schools and community.” said Chief Al Davis, “Additionally, this grant will help us to combat underage tobacco sales, educate our business owners and conduct community outreach on the dangers of tobacco.”
“Tobacco remains a very serious public health concern,” said Attorney General Becerra. “These grants will provide additional tools to law enforcement to help educate kids about the dangers of smoking. The grants will also help local communities enforce laws against selling tobacco products to minors. These grants are an important step toward reducing illegal sales and building a healthier California.”
Proposition 56 (Prop. 56), the California Healthcare, Research and Prevention Tobacco Tax Act of 2016, was approved by voters in November 2016. Effective April 2017, it raised the cigarette tax by $2.00 per pack, with an equivalent increase on other tobacco products. Prop. 56 specifically allocates $30 million of revenue to be distributed annually by the California Department of Justice to local law enforcement agencies for the support and hiring of peace officers for various activities, including investigations intended to reduce the illegal sale of tobacco products to minors.
This year’s Prop. 56 grant recipients will use the state dollars to fund different anti-smoking campaigns and projects including new training and educational materials for officers and tobacco sellers to reduce illegal sales of tobacco products to minors, and law enforcement operations targeted at retailers selling to minors. The recipients are among different cities, counties, school districts and sheriff/police departments click here to see grant recipients.
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They should donate this money to the schools sports programs. Give the kids something else to do.
$451,000 for what exactly? Signage and education? Awful lot of money.
With the exception of the SRO this is a complete waste of money.
The SRO is a waste of money also!
Apparently you missed the last article that the SRO worked to put a high school student in jail when he threatened to shoot up the school.
Not even sierragrl, police presence is always a good thing. Unless of course you are the type that hates cops and believe they are all bad, there seems to be a quite a few of those types of people in Mammoth.
I don’t hate cops, especially the ones in Mammoth, they still do a good job and treat people well. The SRO can be a good thing, we even had them when I was in high school and that SRO formed a good relationship with many kids, especially some that needed it. And Mammoth had a good one for awhile too. But just plugging any old cop into that position doesn’t work. The one that Mammoth had (and might still have?) when my kids were in school there was a giant waste. 90% of the kids were smarter than him and he failed to form any relationships with the kids. He was just this neanderthal cop that kids hated….no value whatsoever.
sierragrl, so we should do away with the SRO altogether, never giving another SRO a chance because you don’t have the one you want? Really?
What would happen if the favorite teacher of your kids left town?
Good lord, super narrow minded.
The SRO position, in my opinion, is a good concept. But it is a hard job to fill in most areas. It is typically not a `career track’ position for a POST certified law enforcement officer, who will generally perceive that there are better future career opportunities by sticking with traditional patrol division or detective division duties. There just aren’t the same paths available, once becoming an SRO.
Consequently, I think that there is one workable way to best fill vacancies, if any, in SRO positions. I would suggest seeking to hire a retired officer who has the right credentials, is willing to render this specialty service, and by virtue of already being retired, is someone who is not focusing on the way up the ladder in his or her future.
I am certain there are more than a few officers at various agencies, who are on the cusp of retirement, and who would love to live–and continue working–in the eastern Sierras.