What factors are associated with local enforcement of laws banning illegaltobacco sales to minors? A study of 182 law enforcement agencies in California

Objectives. The aims of this study were to understand the attitudes of loca l law enforcement staff regarding policies to reduce youth access to tobacc o, to determine what proportion of these agencies have conducted unannounce d compliance checks in the past year, and to examine factors associated wit h conducting compliance checks. Methods. A written questionnaire was completed by 182 law enforcement offic ials representing 200 cities and counties in California (some officials rep resented multiple jurisdictions). Logistic regression analyses were conduct ed to identify factors associated with conducting compliance checks. Results. Only 36% of local enforcement agencies reported conducting one or more compliance checks in the previous year. Agencies were more likely to c onduct compliance checks if they perceived fewer barriers to enforcement, r eported more frequent collaboration with other community agencies to enforc e youth access laws, and believed that youth access to tobacco is a problem in their community. Conclusions. Because active enforcement of youth access laws using unannoun ced compliance checks has been shown to reduce the rate of illegal tobacco sales to minors and may reduce youth smoking, efforts to increase the level of enforcement should be promoted. These study results may be used to info rm efforts to encourage local agencies to enforce existing youth access law s. (C) 2001 American Health Foundation and Academic Press