All businesses pass tobacco compliance test

For the first time since the city of Savage adopted its tobacco ordinance, all of the 17 licensed tobacco retailers passed compliance checks that were conducted Dec. 9.
“This is nice to see,” said Colleen Johnson, code enforcement officer. “I’m pleased that all the licensed businesses complied (with the tobacco ordinance).”
Police conduct unannounced compliance checks on retailers that sell tobacco at least once a year, per state law. Two stores failed the last tobacco sting conducted by police in February.
When they conduct compliance checks, police send a teenager into the store with valid identification stating that they are under 18 years old, explained Capt. Dave Muelken. If the teen is carded and the sale is refused, the store passes the check. If the teen is sold tobacco, the business is cited for failure to comply with tobacco laws.
This year, for the first time ever, the city sponsored a training seminar in an attempt to educate the employees of retailers that sell tobacco and alcohol products, Muelken said. The training is done in the hope of educating clerks about checking identification, which in turn will lead to zero violations when compliance checks are done.
“There’s no trickery involved in the compliance checks,” Muelken added. “We are looking for compliance, and that’s why we offer training in advance of the checks.”
The new training sessions seemed to work in this case, Muelken said. The employees were observed by an officer scanning the IDs when scanners were available. In all 17 cases the employees looked at the IDs and denied the sale.Retailers in Savage that are licensed to sell tobacco include: Both BP gas stations, Cub Foods, Rainbow Foods, Neisen’s Sports Bar, Valley Oil, both Walgreens stores, Dan Patch Liquor, Marketplace Liquor, Savage Super USA, all three SuperAmerica stores, Kwik Trip and both Holiday Station stores.
The city has been conducting tobacco compliance checks since 1995. Since then, 35 tobacco ordinance violations have been handed out to licensed tobacco retailers in Savage, Johnson said.
Earlier this year, alcohol compliance checks were done for the first time at the licensed liquor retailers, of which three businesses failed.
Police plan on conducting at least one round of both alcohol and tobacco compliance checks in 2010, Muelken said.