Spokane County Arrest Records

Arrest records in Spokane County are official documentation of arrests made by officers of the law. Whenever a law enforcement officer detains an individual, they must prepare a record of the event. This record describes the apprehension and detention of the individual. An arrest may be made in Spokane County with or without a warrant. An officer of the law does not need a warrant to conduct an arrest if they observe the arrestee committing a crime. However, when seeking an arrest warrant, they are required to provide probable cause to detain the named individual.

Most arrests in Spokane County are made by local law enforcement agencies such as municipal police departments and the Sheriff’s Office. The Washington State Patrol (WSP) can also make arrests in the county. To access the record of an arrest, you must know the agency that made the arrest and contact them directly.

When local law enforcement agencies, such as the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office, charges arrestees to court, officials of the county’s justice system create Spokane County court records to document the progress of the arrestee through the court system. These records form the basis of arrestees’ criminal records.

Are Arrest Records Public in Spokane County?

Yes. The Public Records Act of Washington State preserves the rights of members of the public to access arrest and criminal records prepared and maintained by local law enforcement agencies. The Act, however, allows law enforcement to prevent access to records containing any of these:

• Witness information
• Evidentiary information in active investigations
• Information identifying minors or juvenile offenders
• Confidential health information

What Do Public Arrest Records Contain?

A Spokane County arrest record provides the following details:

• Identity of the arrestee including their name, gender, age, and picture
• Date, time, and location of arrest
• Offense or charge necessitating the arrest
• Name of the arresting officer and the law enforcement agency they represent
• Booking number and date

Spokane County Crime Rate

Various law enforcement agencies in Spokane County publish regular crime statistics reports. The county’s Sheriff’s Office puts monthly crime reports on its website. Similarly, the Spokane Valley Police Department maintains the record of crimes its officers handle. The Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs also publishes annual state-wide crime and arrest figures on its website. For county-specific breakdown, visit the Criminal Justice Research and Statistics Center of the Washington State Statistical Analysis Center. Its Criminal Justice Data Book shows that Spokane County recorded 28 murders, 6 manslaughters, 436 rapes, 8,413 assaults, 419 robberies, 103 arsons, and 3,213 burglaries in 2022

Spokane County Arrest Statistics

Arrest statistics for Spokane County are also available from the Washington State Statistical Analysis Center as provided by the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs. The data show that there were 7,925 adult arrests and 466 juvenile arrests in the county in 2022. The report also shows that the average daily jail population in that year is 732.

Find Spokane County Arrest Records

Spokane arrest records relating to the location of inmates are provided by local and state law enforcement and correctional services with detention facilities. For example, to find an individual arrested or remanded in the county jails maintained by the Sheriff’s Office and police departments, check the Inmate Roster on the county’s website.

A Spokane County arrestee may also end up in a state prison. Such prisons are administered by the Washington State Department of Corrections. Inmates in the facilities maintained by this agency can be found with the Incarcerated Search tool on its website.

A federal arrest conducted in Spokane County may lead to the transfer of the arrestee to a facility maintained by the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP). Use the BOP’s inmate lookup tool to find inmates detained in federal prisons.

Free Arrest Record Search in Spokane County

Free arrest record searches are provided by government agencies involved in running jails, prisons, and other detention facilities at all levels. To locate a Spokane County arrestee with such tools, try the following sources:

• The Spokane County Inmate Roster
• The Incarcerated Search provided by the Washington State Department of Corrections
• The inmate lookup tool used to find inmates in federal prisons

There are also third-party record finders online that may help you freely access Spokane County arrest records. These usually retrieve their search results from official databases. However, they may not provide up-to-date results especially from inmate rosters that are updated everyday.

Get Spokane County Criminal Records

The Washington State Patrol provides criminal records to all residents of the state. You can request a criminal record from the WSP in person, by mail, or online. This agency only provides criminal history record information (CHRI) to members of the public intending to use the records for non-criminal justice purposes. The CHRI provided to the public only includes conviction records, arrest records created less than a year ago, and sex and kidnapping offender records.

To access Spokane County criminal records online, visit the Washington Access to Criminal History (WATCH) portal. There, you can conduct a name-based search for $11. The fee is payable with a credit or debit card.

When requesting a Spokane County criminal record by mail, you may choose to search the WSP database by name or fingerprint. For a name-based search, complete and mail the Request for Conviction Criminal History Form, along with a $32 fee, to:

Washington State Patrol
Identification and Background Check Section
P.O. Box 42633, Olympia, WA 98504-2633

The fee is payable by check, money order, or Bankcard Authorization Form.

To conduct a fingerprint-based background check, you must mail in a complete set of fingerprints on an approved card along with a $58 processing fee. If you want a notarized letter along with the CHRI, there is an additional $10 fee.

To request a Spokane County criminal record in person, print, download, and complete the Conviction Criminal History Form and bring it to the Olympia office located at:

106 11th Avenue SW
Suite 1300
Olympia WA 98501

You can pay the $32 (for name-based background check) or $58 (for fingerprint-based check), along with the optional $10 (for notarized letter) in cash, with a check, or by credit/debit card. The WSP offers a fingerprinting service at its Olympia office and charges an additional $16 for this.

Spokane County Arrest Records Vs. Criminal Records

While sometimes used to mean the same thing, an arrest record is different from a criminal record. An arrest record only describes an arrest event. Primarily, it states the charge, identifies the arrestee and arresting officer, and mentions where the arrestee is detained. A criminal record, on the other hand, is a more comprehensive document. It provides an individual’s entire criminal history including the record of every arrest, arraignment, conviction, discharge, and incarceration.

A criminal record containing an individual’s conviction history is important because it states whether they were found guilty or innocent of the offense for which they were arrested. For this reason, approved organizations conducting background checks on potential hires and candidates seek criminal records rather than arrest records.

How Long Do Arrests Stay on Your Record?

Forever, unless expunged. A Spokane County arrest record will always be discoverable unless expunged by a court order. However, different local and state law enforcements in Washington State have different record retention periods and may destroy their copies of an arrest record after their set period.

Expunge Spokane County Arrest Records

Expunging an arrest record goes beyond sealing the record. Expungement makes a record legally void so that the event recorded is as good as it never occurred. To expunge a Spokane County arrest record, you need a court order approving this change and then a request to WSP as well as a request to the local law enforcement agency that made the arrest to effect the change. However, only criminal history record information containing non-conviction data can be expunged in the State of Washington. Therefore, it is unlikely that a Spokane County court will grant your request to expunge an arrest record if the record is part of criminal court proceedings that led to a conviction. The Revised Code of Washington (RCW 10.97.060) enumerates additional requirements to delete a Washington criminal record, such as:

• The case involved must not end in a diversion outcome such as a deferred prosecution
• The subject of the record must not have a prior felony or gross misdemeanor conviction
• The subject has not been arrested or charged with a different crime in the period since the record was made
• It must be at least 2 years since a favorable disposition made the record a non-conviction data or at least 3 years since the date of arrest or issuance of arrest warrant or citation for the charge for which the subject of the record was not convicted

If the court grants the request to expunge your criminal/arrest record, you may contact the WSP to destroy their copy of the record. This requires completing and submitting a Request For Expungement/Deletion of Non-Conviction Records. Lastly, you must contact the arresting police department or Sheriff’s Office to learn about their procedures for deleting your arrest record.

Spokane County Arrest Warrants

A Spokane County arrest warrant is a legally binding document authorizing officers of the law to apprehend a named individual. An arrest warrant is different from a summons. A summons is sent to notify an individual to appear in court at a set date. An arrest warrant instructs law enforcement to apprehend and detain the subject before bringing them to court.

While judges sign and issue most arrest warrants, the State of Washington also empowers the Secretary of the Department of Corrections (DOC) under RCW 9.94A.716. Known as a Secretary's warrant is usually issued for law enforcement to detain an individual violating the conditions of their community custody.

Information provided in a Spokane County arrest warrant includes:

• Arrestee’s name and other identifying details
• Arrest charge or reason
• Court summoning the arrestee
• Authorizing judge’s name and signature
• Warrant number
• Time and day the arrest warrant was issued

Spokane County Arrest Warrant Search

To search for a Spokane County arrest warrant, you must contact the agency authorized to execute it. The county’s Sheriff’s Office only answers enquiries about arrest warrants in person. Its office is located at:

1100 W Mallon Avenue
Spokane, WA 99260

The Washington State DOC also offers a Warranty Search feature on its website for looking up outstanding Secretary’s warrants.

Do Spokane County Arrest Warrants Expire?

No. A Spokane County arrest warrant remains enforceable indefinitely until the subject of the warrant is arrested or reports to the county jail. The death of the individual named on an arrest warrant is the only other reason an active warrant becomes invalid.