September 19, 2019
On Sunday 9/15/19 the Minot Police Department, Crime Prevention Unit conducted Tobacco Compliance Checks on area merchants licensed to sell tobacco, as required by Minot Code of Ordinances. Thirty-one business were checked, with all of them passing the check by refusing to sell tobacco to our juvenile volunteers. Four tobacco retailers were closed at the time of the checks and one was not attempted due to our youth volunteers knowing the clerk working at the time.
The police department is pleased to see our tobacco retailers compliance rates remain consistently among the best in North Dakota. Tobacco compliance failures in Minot are rare and more rarely are they repeated by the same retail locations and clerks.
Minot Code of Ordinances provide the following penalties should a failure occur:
- Selling Tobacco to a Minor carries a $50 fine for the clerk for a first offense, $150 for a second offense, and $300 for any subsequent offense.
- The business issued the tobacco sales permit would face a civil penalty according to the following schedule.
Within a 12 month period:
1st offense $100 penalty
2nd offense Tobacco License suspended for 7 days
3rd offense Tobacco License suspended for 30 day
4th offense Tobacco License suspended for 1 year