The Kent Police Department received a state grant to fund a full-time officer to conduct DUI enforcement that also has resulted in issuing speeding tickets.
Since May, Officer David Castro has made 242 driver contacts and arrested 11 for DUI, according to a Nov. 26 Kent Police Facebook post. He has issued 210 infractions, including 146 speed-related tickets.
While conducting speed enforcement along the 104th Avenue SE corridor, Castro stopped one driver for going 84 mph and another for going 62 mph, according to police. The posted speed limit along 104th Avenue SE between SE 256th Street and SE 272nd Street is 35 mph. The City Council recently approved dropping that speed limit to 30 mph in early 2026.
Kent Police received a three-year grant from the Washington Traffic Safety Commission to fund a DUI officer for three years, including $118,761 the first year, which turned out to be a five-month period. The Kent City Council accepted the grant April 15. The council approved the second year of the state grant for $200,000 on Sept. 16.
The grant program will fund one full-time traffic officer’s salary and benefits each year through Sept. 30, 2027, according to city documents. The grant must be renewed each year by the council.
One of the goals of the traffic safety program is to reduce serious injury and fatal crashes in Kent. Comparing May to September of 2025 to the same period in 2024, serious injury crashes have dropped 11.5% and fatal crashes 16.7%, according to police.
Kent had 22 traffic fatalities in 2023, with 55% of them involving an impaired driver, according to the Washington Traffic Safety Commission Fatalities Dashboard. The number of fatalities dropped to 19 in 2024 with 42% of them involving an impaired driver. The total numbers for 2025 will be released early next year.
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