underage and undercover Southern
California teenagers are helping to stop
the vaping epidemic by teaming up these
days with police tonight only the NBC 4
i-team shows you how police are putting
shop owners to the test here the test
will they sell to someone who isn't old
enough to buy investigative reporter
Lolita Lopez takes us along ok and our
decoys out looks like he's got a
violation let's see it in his hands yes
at store after store purchase this
teenager is buying vapes and other
tobacco products he has no business
getting his hands on this is a puff bar
it's similar to Joule vaping product
this is a watermelon flavored I team
with the LAPD watching their special
operation an effort to crackdown on
retailers selling to minors remember you
have to be 21 to buy tobacco products
how often are you seeing something like
this in underaged hands I would say
probably about half the time when we go
into a vape shop we're able to buy
something like this it works like this
police send in underage decoys teens who
want to be officers themselves we're
blurring this young man's face so we
don't blow his cover and what are stores
supposed to do when your decoy goes in
what we hope that they would do is
number one recognize that this is a very
youthful looking person and they would
immediately ask for ID and look at that
idea and verify the age sergeant
Fernando Garcia says in California it's
an easy thing to do any time they see an
ID that's poor to sell ID like this it
has a red line on it and they need to
check that red line because on that red
line it tells you when the kid turns 21
this market in South LA police say the
clerk never even asked for an ID and
there's something else that bothers them
shop that just sold
the underaged decoy is just right across
the street from high school correct and
that's for us that's a big concern
absolutely we want to make sure that
especially these locations are so close
to the high school are doing a good job
of checking IDs and verifying while we
are with police three out of five stores
end up selling to the teen none wanted
to talk with the eye team and those
stores aren't alone
the LAPD tells the i-team they're
underage decoys visited more than 2,200
locations across Los Angeles last year
499 of them broke the law that bothers
officers like Paul Strauss turns out
he's not just helping to stop teens from
getting their hands on baits and he's
also an anesthesiologist at cedars-sinai
dealing with those who end up getting
sick so you're seeing these lung
illnesses coming into your Hospital yeah
that's one and it's happening all over
and unfortunately it's young kids and
that means these officers and the
underage decoys will stay busy with a
warning to shop owners you never know
where they'll pop up next I think we're
headed in the right direction but we're
not quite there yet yeah and he says
part of that is about education and
enforcement they're really trying to
help people understand why they
shouldn't be selling to minors tobacco
to minors in the first place I'm curious
so what happens is the clerk who is
selling to the minor the clerk is
actually the person who gets the
citation and it can be up to a $1000
fine but here's the thing they can go to
court and actually go to a class which
then they're learning and getting
educated about why they shouldn't be
selling to minors and the dangers of
tobacco for young people I know like if
you get a ticket or something exactly so
what about the stores or the store
owners themselves yeah the stores are
also on the hook so the first time it's
a warning the second offense is a fine
in the third they cannot sell tobacco
products at all yeah thank you
California teenagers are helping to stop
the vaping epidemic by teaming up these
days with police tonight only the NBC 4
i-team shows you how police are putting
shop owners to the test here the test
will they sell to someone who isn't old
enough to buy investigative reporter
Lolita Lopez takes us along ok and our
decoys out looks like he's got a
violation let's see it in his hands yes
at store after store purchase this
teenager is buying vapes and other
tobacco products he has no business
getting his hands on this is a puff bar
it's similar to Joule vaping product
this is a watermelon flavored I team
with the LAPD watching their special
operation an effort to crackdown on
retailers selling to minors remember you
have to be 21 to buy tobacco products
how often are you seeing something like
this in underaged hands I would say
probably about half the time when we go
into a vape shop we're able to buy
something like this it works like this
police send in underage decoys teens who
want to be officers themselves we're
blurring this young man's face so we
don't blow his cover and what are stores
supposed to do when your decoy goes in
what we hope that they would do is
number one recognize that this is a very
youthful looking person and they would
immediately ask for ID and look at that
idea and verify the age sergeant
Fernando Garcia says in California it's
an easy thing to do any time they see an
ID that's poor to sell ID like this it
has a red line on it and they need to
check that red line because on that red
line it tells you when the kid turns 21
this market in South LA police say the
clerk never even asked for an ID and
there's something else that bothers them
shop that just sold
the underaged decoy is just right across
the street from high school correct and
that's for us that's a big concern
absolutely we want to make sure that
especially these locations are so close
to the high school are doing a good job
of checking IDs and verifying while we
are with police three out of five stores
end up selling to the teen none wanted
to talk with the eye team and those
stores aren't alone
the LAPD tells the i-team they're
underage decoys visited more than 2,200
locations across Los Angeles last year
499 of them broke the law that bothers
officers like Paul Strauss turns out
he's not just helping to stop teens from
getting their hands on baits and he's
also an anesthesiologist at cedars-sinai
dealing with those who end up getting
sick so you're seeing these lung
illnesses coming into your Hospital yeah
that's one and it's happening all over
and unfortunately it's young kids and
that means these officers and the
underage decoys will stay busy with a
warning to shop owners you never know
where they'll pop up next I think we're
headed in the right direction but we're
not quite there yet yeah and he says
part of that is about education and
enforcement they're really trying to
help people understand why they
shouldn't be selling to minors tobacco
to minors in the first place I'm curious
so what happens is the clerk who is
selling to the minor the clerk is
actually the person who gets the
citation and it can be up to a $1000
fine but here's the thing they can go to
court and actually go to a class which
then they're learning and getting
educated about why they shouldn't be
selling to minors and the dangers of
tobacco for young people I know like if
you get a ticket or something exactly so
what about the stores or the store
owners themselves yeah the stores are
also on the hook so the first time it's
a warning the second offense is a fine
in the third they cannot sell tobacco
products at all yeah thank you
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