AMARILLO -- Since the school year started Amarillo Police have handed out about two hundred tickets to kids.
The problem, underage smoking.
Two hours a day five days a week Joe Loftus and David Young are on the look-out for smokers.
"I've been a cop for about three and a half years. I've been doing Tobacco Grant for about two years now," says Officer Loftus.
"We get this grant yearly to enforce the laws and to educate kids that smoking tobacco or possessing tobacco under the age of eighteen is illegal," says Melynn Huntley with the Amarillo Independent School District.
It's an eleven thousand dollar grant handed down by the Texas State Comptroller.
Twenty-five percent is used to enforce, the rest to educate.
"The reason that the State of Texas does this is because that's the first point of entry for trouble is smoking," says Huntley.
"I patrol all four high schools, Caprock, Palo Duro, Tascosa and Amarillo High," says Loftus.
Typically they write a couple tickets a day.
This day, they they were at Palo Duro.
They wrote four tickets.
"Our job is to enforce every single law there is and this is one of the laws that we're enforcing," says Loftus.
The tickets are the equivalent of a speeding ticket.
"If they can catch this smoking it might be able to stop them from using alcohol or moving onto other drugs," says Huntley.
It's a battle they're putting out one butt at a time.
Huntley says repeat offenders can lose their drivers license up to six months.
Minors also have to do community service and go to tobacco awareness classes.
