State Patrol: DUI arrests on the rise in King County
SEATTLE - DUI arrests are on the rise in King County and other parts of Western Washington, according to statistics from the Washington State Patrol (WSP).
The numbers in King County (WSP District 2) show troopers have already arrested 2,425 drivers for DUI this year compared to 2,201 arrests in 2016. That’s a 10 percent increase and it’s only Thanksgiving.
In District 5, which includes Clark, Skamania, Klickitat, Cowlitz and Lewis Counties, DUI arrests have already jumped 12 percent from last year. Troopers arrested 1,096 drivers last year compared to 1,228 in 2017 so far.
And in District 7, which stretches from Snohomish County to the Canadian border, troopers just surpassed last year’s total for DUI arrests.
“It is a little scary that there’s that many impaired drivers out there,” Trooper Mallory Reynolds told KOMO News. But. Reynolds said the State Patrol’s increased staffing may be partly responsible for the spike in arrests.
WSP is in the middle of an impaired driving emphasis patrol, which began Wednesday and will last through Saturday.
Trooper Reynolds stressed that with ride sharing and other public transportation, no one should be getting behind the wheel intoxicated.
“Don’t risk it,” she said. “It’s not worth it.”
