DeKALB | Police departments routinely conduct compliance checks on local businesses that are licensed to sell tobacco products.

During a tobacco compliance check, volunteers under the age of 18 are sent into businesses to attempt to purchase tobacco products. The employee must check the volunteer’s identification in order to be in compliance with state law.

Sometimes establishments fail these checks and are faced with consequences from local law enforcement.

Genoa Police arrested and charged employees of two Genoa businesses with the sale of tobacco products to minors during a tobacco compliance check on Feb. 28.

DeKalb Police Chief Bill Feithen said tobacco compliance checks are conducted randomly, so local businesses do not get complacent.

“They send people four to five times a year,” said Abraham Mustafa, owner of Smoker’s World, 818 W. Lincoln Highway #3.

Under Illinois state law, any individual caught selling tobacco products to minors is subject to a $200 fine for the first offense, a $400 fine for the second offense within 12 months and $600 for any subsequent offense within 12 months.

According to a 2005 study conducted by the Center for Disease Control, 80 percent of smokers began before the age of 18 and about 3,900 teens start smoking every day.

“Kids are going to find cigarettes one way or another,” said senior communications major Brian Belford. “They’ll just have someone over 18 buy them.”

Establishments like Smoker’s World try to card everyone, but realize that sometimes people slip through the cracks.

“There are underage kids coming here all the time [to buy cigarettes],” Mustafa said. “Sometimes we are busy and can forget [to ask customers for proof of age].”

In DeKalb, juveniles caught in possession of cigarettes are subject to a $25 to $100 fine, though they are often given community service instead, Feithen said. Businesses who are found to be in compliance during a tobacco check are given a small pin commemorating them for “carding hard”.

Road Ranger, 125 N. Annie Glidden Road, and Lucky’s Tobacco, 110 E. Hillcrest Drive, declined to comment.