San Bernardino County Students May Recover CleanSWEEP Citation Fines: April 18, 2027 Deadline and How to Claim

SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY — October 27, 2026. People who received certain school-related citations from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department while younger than 18 may be able to recover fines and fees or obtain dismissal of their citations. The California Department of Justice announced the application process Tuesday under its settlement addressing the former Operation CleanSWEEP program. Requests must be received by April 18, 2027.

This is a potential reimbursement process for eligible individuals, not an automatic refund for every past school citation. People who were teenagers when cited may now be adults and may still be eligible if their citation meets the conditions described by the state.

Who may qualify?

According to California DOJ, the relevant citations were issued by the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department to people under age 18 and concern certain offenses. The eligibility categories include:

Daytime loitering on school grounds under specified county or city ordinances, when cited on or after December 20, 2002.
Tobacco-related violations under Penal Code section 308(b), when cited on or after June 9, 2016.
Fighting or disturbing the peace on school grounds under Penal Code section 415.
Any offense cited when the child was under 12, if the citation was issued on or after January 1, 2019.

People who paid related fines or fees or have a pending eligible citation may qualify for relief. Eligibility depends on the specific citation and circumstances; the state does not say that every citation is automatically invalid.

How to submit a request

The California DOJ directs potentially eligible people to the Sheriff’s Department by April 18, 2027:

Email: crcoordinator@sbcsd.org
Telephone: 909-387-3406
Mail: Attention: Miles Kowalski, 655 East 3rd Street, San Bernardino, CA 92415.

Applicants should be ready to provide the citation, records of paid fines or fees, and information about pending matters, if available. The state says the Sheriff’s Department will work with applicants to verify records if they no longer have documentation. TTY assistance is available through Valley Communications Center at 909-387-8313 or Desert Communications Center at 760-956-5001.

What was Operation CleanSWEEP?

The program involved citations for lower-level alleged school offenses in San Bernardino County and operated from 1997 to 2022; authorities terminated it countywide in January 2024. The Justice Department says its investigation identified citations issued without lawful authority and adverse impacts on protected student groups. In September 2026, the state reached settlements with the Sheriff’s Department and Chaffey Joint Union High School District, providing for policy changes, training and other safeguards.

The state says some families had faced fines that exceeded $1,000 for a single violation. That background helps explain why today’s reimbursement procedure matters to adults who may no longer think of themselves as former students.

Check the official announcement

See the October 27 California Attorney General notice for the exact requirements, dates and contacts. For a different but related question about accessing public records, California58 has a guide to California public-records requests. This article summarizes a state-announced claims procedure and is not individualized legal advice.

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