Council adopts stay-out-of-drug-areas ordinance after data-driven presentation from police and prosecutor

The Kent City Council’s Committee of the Whole enacted an ordinance to give courts another tool for addressing concentrated public drug activity in targeted parts of the city. The ordinance, introduced by the city prosecutor’s office and supported by Kent Police data, authorizes courts to order certain defendants to stay out of specified “stay out of drug area” (SODA) zones as pretrial conditions or as part of sentencing.

Chief Prosecuting Attorney Sarah Watson framed the ordinance as a targeted tool, not a general punishment for substance use. “This ordinance does not apply to all addicts. It does not apply to all criminal defendants,” Watson said, adding the statute is intended to help reduce unlawful activity in concentrated areas and to give courts an additional option to improve offender accountability.

Why it matters: City staff and police described a rise in drug-related incidents concentrated in three geographic clusters. The new tool allows judges — at their discretion and after consideration of a defendant’s housing, work or services needs — to prohibit a person from entering…