The Kent Police Department will hold a driving under the influence checkpoint tonight in a to-be-announced location.

Officers will be stationed at the location and will stop and screen every car that comes through.

The department will select the site based on previous alcohol-related accidents and DUI arrests.

The checkpoint, sponsored by the Kent Police Department, is in conjunction with the Portage County DUI Task Force. It has been funded by the Governor’s Highway Safety Office in order to curb impaired driving and alcohol-related crash fatalities.

“The county’s DUI Task Force formed after 1997 because that year, 71 percent of fatal crashes involved alcohol,” said Kent Police Sergeant Jayme Cole.

In 1997, Portage County was the sixth worst county in the state for fatal, alcohol-related crashes.

Cole said this will hopefully be a deterrent to university students.

“We’re not targeting college students (but) they are a high-risk demographic (16-35 years),” Cole said.

—Audrey Wagstaff