The Warren City Council didn’t really change its policy regarding tobacco use in city parks recently.

Smoking in parks has been illegal for years. It includes, by the way, cigars, pipes or other tobacco products in any manner or in any form – so yes, e-cigarettes and vaping devices are illegal in city parks, too.

But the recent addition of a fine has upset some city residents who had no problem smoking in parks because they knew the worst consequence they would face was a warning. Attitudes changed when the city changed city ordinance to include a fine for violating the city’s no smoking in public parks policy.

It’s saying something when Police Chief Joe Sproveri told the council there were times officers would give the same person six, seven or eight warnings before there was a consequence.

Studies have well documented there is a public interest in preventing children from being exposed to second-hand smoke from cigarettes. A 2021 study in Environment International noted there is no risk-free threshold of second-hand smoke exposure, so there is no safe level of exposure to children. Children can be especially vulnerable to the health effects of second-hand smoke, the study noted.

City Council members did the right thing, attaching a consequence to the city’s smoke-free parks regulations. The consequence should have been part of the city’s law all along.