The legality of the situation...

[nirvana]

Lately I have noticed a much higher police presence around my high school.  So today while coming home for lunch I noticed 2 cruisers, 1 behind the other going down a street that the pot heads and other misc. smokers like to go down.  Then I see another one pop out as well.  I used to live right in that area and I had never seen something like that before.  However, because there is an elementary school quarter a mile away, it seems like they are at least trying to enforce a no tobacco area around there, since they can't enforce it at school grounds, for some dumb reason.  Kids will blow smoke right into a security guards face and he won't do anything.

Let me start out by saying teens that smoke are dumb.  Incredibly dumb.  They walk up to 7-11 (or should I say they did walk up to 7-11) and they would stand not more then 10 feet from the pumps and smoke for 30 minutes, or hell skip class and smoke for 90 minutes.  7-11 management did nothing about it, so the police finally started making regular visits in marked and unmarked cars.  7AM, noon, whenever.  Kids gets tickets or whatever and then complain about how the police are such "pigs that can't do real work".

Onto my question, why are they policing the streets, and under what circumstances can they give a ticket?  Is it minor in posession or something of that nature?  It would be a mistake to assume that of all the kids that smoke, none of them are smoking the ganja.  Hell i've seen a cop bust 2 kids smoking pot at 7-11 one morning, the kids were back at school the next day.  If they are going to be roaming the streets I would like to see more tickets and less *****ing from the kids who can't break a habit.



Nirvana (recovering sugar addict)

[indy007]

Well, they can fine the store for selling cigarettes to minors. They do sting operations all the time in Houston for it. Not sure what else the police can do other than tell parents that probably don't care.

[Iceman24]

basically the only thing they can do is give them a minor in possesion of tobacco ticket which there parents will have to pay... I think it's a waste of police officers, if kids wanna smoke, let em do it. I believe that is a subject between the kid and his parents and should have nothing to do with the school or the police. I know at schools nowadays they have all these zero tolerance things posted saying that you can't have tobacco with x amount of feet from the school, but go into the teachers lounge lol it will look like my dorm when I was at UT ( just a huge cloud of smoke hanging in the room ) I can't stand issues like this that should be dealt with in the family, I personnally could care less if some 12 yr old wants to fire up a cigarette or a joint, if his/her parents don't care then why should I. I have no right telling another parent how to raise there kids. I can think of way better things our policemen can be doin besides watching for some dumb kids that are smoking

[nirvana]

Forgot about that Indy, they have warned 7-11 numerous times to keep them away or they will get fined.

[StarOfAfrica2]

Depends on the municipality, any city can pass laws harsher than the state ones.  I've seen cities that passed laws prohibiting posession of tobacco by anyone under 21.  There, "posession by a minor" is not just a finable offense, they fine your parents.  For repeat offenses they can lock people up.  Check the local laws, not just state law.

[Golfer]

They can't do a darn thing to 7-11 unless they're selling them the cigarettes.  Cigarettes aren't hard to come by and generally parents or older siblings are the providers rather than just buying them themselves.

If they want to smoke...let em.  Threatening them "no school if you smoke" won't do the trick either, regardless of substance.



Best thing to do...if they're not bothering you (it doesn't sound like they are, you're just getting bothered by it) then don't bother them.  They're not your problem and you're not theirs so the world can keep spinning, with your permission of course.

[nirvana]

I would prefer if they had a designated smoking area so I didn't have to walk by it...but then I could just cross the street to avoid it couldn't I?  They aren't going out of their way to blow smoke in my face.  I'm just lazy and don't want to cross the street.  Cherry Creek Schools "Zero Tolerance Policy" doesn't mean jack, just like the dress code.  I might talk to someone about it, if it even mattered, but they won't do anything so why bother.

I think the older kids buy the cigarettes, the seniors and stuff, then they pass them out to their friends.  I think it's more about loitering then about the coagerttes though, even though it is kind of a hazard to smoke 10 feet from a pumpo when I can smell fumes from 20 feet away whatever gets you off though.


Was just wondering why they have 3 cruisers patrolling the streets if they can't do much more then give them a minor in posession ticket.

[x0847Marine]

Any officer who sees someone who "appears to be of school age" on the street during school hours can stop that person to ascertain if they are truent.

Jeveniles have fewer rights than adults.

Now as to why?, there are 2 kinds of patrol; pro-active and re-active, when most depts get a high number of calls for service in a certain area they switch from reacting to the complaints to agressively (ie pro-actively) seeking out violations.

They will probably stop when the "stats" reflect the officers have found and taken enough enforcement action on whatever their assignment was, and or when the calls for service in that area dry up.

Quotas in law enforcement are illegal, but dept heads have to report something to the civilians in power, colorful pie charts along with PC speeches about how work is getting done.. so in reality those officers on pro-active patrol are out there knowing they have to scratch out a certain # of citations and make XX of arrests.. that makes the boss happy and the boss can grant vacations, promotions, give you a raise... it pays to be a good troop.


There were plenty of days I drove around finding nothing interesting, and got my anus reamed for it more than once, esp at the end of the month if the shift stats were low, yea we were in competition with other shifts... thats usually when I parked at a stop sign and cited people all day.

I wont even get into where all the fine $$ goes (into the pockets of city politicianc friends) or how small cities actually make $$ from the police dept (and how that can affect the officers pay).

Wanna make a millioin a year EASY??,open a tow yard and get a small city contract.. bribe the mayor to pressure the COP (chief of police) to have his officers use your tow service. more often. By law city jobs must be put to bid.

The mayor will then ok a traffic lane, one of those BS vehicle safety checkpoints that will result in countless impounded vehicles, its the ghetto...nobody has a license or they have warrants. The yard get $70 per vehicle plus $15 per day storage, the city gets a chunk of the fines and the rest is eaten by the courts...  MEANWHILE the city keeps all your $$ in an interest earning fund.

[Golfer]

When you grow up be a professional protestor and demand schools have handicapped access, readily available water fountains and designated smoking areas.  Two out of three ain't bad.

[texace]

Lord knows we can't stop the chillins from being "cool." Why else would young teenagers smoke?

[nirvana]

Bah you're taking it too seriously Golfer.  If i wasn't so lazy they could have their smoking spot without me complaining about it.  And the school is handicapped accesible, we have busses with elevators for them too.  And water fountains...we have them but most classes you can just bring a water bottle to.

Thanks for the info marine.  I figure some people have lodged complaints because of the amount of teens that stand in large 20+ groups, wearing all black clothes, it's very imtimidating:lol  Seriously though, I wouldn't be surprised if it was because they were having some many calls.  Some girl almost smacked me right when a cop had just passed.  Damn teenage drivers:p


Put all teens in boarding school and no licenses until 21!

[Delirium]

1. Smokers have no rights, at the current rate of laws being passed, it will be illegal to smoke within your own car or home. In Connecticut, it is illegal to do activities that distract you while driving... a cop could ticket you for smoking if he wanted.

2. Kids have no rights, unless they are complaining to Child Welfare or Protective Services or getting an abortion in some states.

(I used to smoke, luckily I quit in May '03, but I still have some sympathy for those that are of legal smoking age.)

[nirvana]

I don't have sympathy for them.  My grandma is a smoker and so is my dad.  Not only are they poisoing themselves they are poisoning everyone else.  Just like hair spray, ban hairspray too.  

[DREDIOCK]

Originally posted by x0847Marine
Quotas in law enforcement are illegal, but dept heads have to report something to the civilians in power, colorful pie charts along with PC speeches about how work is getting done.. so in reality those officers on pro-active patrol are out there knowing they have to scratch out a certain # of citations and make XX of arrests.. that makes the boss happy and the boss can grant vacations, promotions, give you a raise... it pays to be a good troop.


There were plenty of days I drove around finding nothing interesting, and got my anus reamed for it more than once, esp at the end of the month if the shift stats were low, yea we were in competition with other shifts... thats usually when I parked at a stop sign and cited people all day.

I wont even get into where all the fine $$ goes (into the pockets of city politicianc friends) or how small cities actually make $$ from the police dept (and how that can affect the officers pay).

Wanna make a millioin a year EASY??,open a tow yard and get a small city contract.. bribe the mayor to pressure the COP (chief of police) to have his officers use your tow service. more often. By law city jobs must be put to bid.

The mayor will then ok a traffic lane, one of those BS vehicle safety checkpoints that will result in countless impounded vehicles, its the ghetto...nobody has a license or they have warrants. The yard get $70 per vehicle plus $15 per day storage, the city gets a chunk of the fines and the rest is eaten by the courts...  MEANWHILE the city keeps all your $$ in an interest earning fund.

Quotas may be illegal but they do exist.
We have a good friend who is a cop who I posed that question to him. His responce was "Quotas are illegal. but they are there. In his Dept each cop is expected to write 6 tickets per week 2 of which are expected to be moving violations.

I know alot of cops and none I know are willing to bust chops on kids smoking because its just not worth their time and effort. Unless as you say they are being pro active on the activity or they kids are got caught doing something else wrong and are behaving like jerks (expletive substitute).

Speaking of vehicles Most of the cops I know again unless they are being pro active wont write speeding tickets either unless your driving insanely fast. They will give you a ticket for something else instead because as they say "I dont like the idea of subsidizing the insurance industry. They charge enough as it is. Let them make their own money"
Here in Jersey where until recently we had the highest car isurance premiums in the nation if you get a speeding ticket it gets reported to your insurance company and you get hit with a nice little surcharge from them for like 5 years.

[Flit]

Originally posted by DREDIOCK
Quotas may be illegal but they do exist.
We have a good friend who is a cop who I posed that question to him. His responce was "Quotas are illegal. but they are there. In his Dept each cop is expected to write 6 tickets per week 2 of which are expected to be moving violations.

I know alot of cops and none I know are willing to bust chops on kids smoking because its just not worth their time and effort. Unless as you say they are being pro active on the activity or they kids are got caught doing something else wrong and are behaving like jerks (expletive substitute).

Speaking of vehicles Most of the cops I know again unless they are being pro active wont write speeding tickets either unless your driving insanely fast. They will give you a ticket for something else instead because as they say "I dont like the idea of subsidizing the insurance industry. They charge enough as it is. Let them make their own money"
Here in Jersey where until recently we had the highest car isurance premiums in the nation if you get a speeding ticket it gets reported to your insurance company and you get hit with a nice little surcharge from them for like 5 years.

Tell that to the NJ trooper who wrote me up for "exceeding the speed limit in a construction zone" on the turnpike.
 He's doing 64 in the left hand (i.e passing) lane in a 65 mph limit area, when I pass him doing 65 , he pulled me over and stated " Your acting like you want a ticket, I'm gonna write you one" cost me $174  for doing the speed limit.
 NJ cops suck