When the irrefutable fact of a person’s involvement in a criminal activity exists, the individual will be arrested and presented before the court to answer for his/her transgressions. However, before the police can detain an individual and question him/her, they need to seek an arrest warrant against the person.
A warrant is a judicial order that serves as a directive to the local sheriff’s department to apprehend a person. While the judge has to sign the demand for it to come into effect, the law enforcement agency initiated the process, which submits a formal complaint in the criminal court for a warrant.
The sitting magistrate of Whatcom County, Washington, weighs all the information presented in the writ and may even ask for a sworn testimony from the witnesses, victim, and the investigating officers before issuing the warrant. Once probable cause has been established, the magistrate signs the order, legally referred to as an active arrest warrant.
The police rarely release information about active warrants; this is done to prevent the accused from escaping. However, if an arrest is not made through the order for a while after it is issued, the document is stored in a national database and then called an outstanding arrest warrant.
The sheriff’s Whatcom County, WA, holds warrant and arrest records for all areas in its jurisdiction. So, if you are interested in a warrant search, pay them a visit at 311 Grand Ave, Bellingham, Washington 98225.
An online option is also available; filling the form above will give you access to a third party repository of arrest records not only for the county of Whatcom but also from other parts of the country.
Is it possible to get information on Whatcom County arrests and warrants over the phone? (2021-Update)
- Recent arrests made by County Sheriff’s Office: 360-778-6600.
- Jail inmate records: 360-778-6500.
- Questions about a criminal case (for victims): 360-676-6911.
- Filing a request for arrest records and incident reports: 360-778-6670.
- Assistance offered to crime victims: 360-778-5710.
- Filing a request to access judicial records (Criminal court records): Felony case records from the Superior Court – 360-778-5560 and misdemeanor case records from the District Court- 360-778-5400.
Crime Statistics of Whatcom County, Washington
In 2018, over 1420 crimes were reported in Whatcom County. Of these, nearly 1300 were property crimes and around 125 were violent crimes. Property crimes included nearly 850 larceny-theft cases and around 340 burglary complaints, among others. The violent crime total included approximately 85 instances of aggravated assault, around 30 cases of rape and 15 of robbery.
In 1999, only about 200 violent crime incidents were reported in Whatcom; however, the police have been unable to maintain this crime rate. Since then, the crime situation has worsened over ten years, with almost 50% in annual incident reports.
Of the almost 70,000 cases filed in the area in the decade mentioned above, a total of 3000 were violent and included nearly 20 murders and over 500 rapes. However, the number that made most people sit up and take notice was the rate of thefts and robberies, which stood at almost 55,000 incidents.