Find Arrest Records in Whitman County

Whitman County arrest records are maintained by the Sheriff's Office in Colfax, and the county provides a publicly accessible jail inmate listing that updates approximately every ten minutes. This page covers how to use that listing, what data is available, and how to request additional arrest records from the county.

Whitman County Jail Inmate Listing

The Whitman County Jail inmate listing is updated roughly every ten minutes and shows people currently detained at the county facility. For each person listed, you can see the inmate number, booking number, date and time of booking, alleged offenses with their corresponding RCW citations, bond information, sentence class, and expected good-time release date.

The site includes a clear disclaimer: this is not conviction data. The listing shows arrests and detentions only. An arrest does not mean the person committed the offense. That distinction matters. People appear on the jail listing because they have been booked, not because they have been found guilty of anything. Keep that in mind when using this data.

Some individuals appear multiple times on the listing with different booking numbers. This happens when someone is held on more than one separate cause, each with its own booking entry. It does not mean they were arrested twice separately; it means the facility tracks each legal basis for detention as a distinct record. If you see duplicate names, check the booking numbers to see if they are separate holds or one person listed multiple times.

Whitman County Sheriff's Office

The Whitman County Sheriff's Office is the primary law enforcement agency for the county and handles bookings at the county jail. The main office is at 411 N Mill Street, Colfax, WA 99111. Office hours are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Phone numbers: main office at (509) 397-6266; fax at (509) 397-2099; jail directly at (509) 397-5585. If you need to confirm whether someone has been booked or ask about a current inmate, calling the jail line directly is typically the fastest option during hours when staff are available.

The Sheriff's Office serves a rural county with a significant university population, as Washington State University is located in Pullman. That mix affects the types of arrests the office handles. The county processes both general criminal matters and incidents that arise from a large student population, which is reflected in the arrest statistics below.

Whitman County Arrest Statistics

The Whitman County arrest records data shows 1,741 arrests by the Sheriff's Office over the five-year period from 2019 through 2023. That works out to roughly 348 arrests per year on average. The numbers give a general picture of county enforcement patterns.

By gender, 72.72% of those arrested were male and 27.28% were female during that period. By race, white individuals made up 89.43% of arrests, followed by Black individuals at 5.46%, and American Indian individuals at 2.18%, with other groups accounting for the remainder.

Looking at offense types, the largest category was "all other offenses" at 50.49% of total arrests. DUI arrests made up 12.85%, and simple assault accounted for 10.84%. Those three categories together cover nearly three-quarters of all arrests in the county over those five years. For a county that includes a major university, the DUI number is notable but not unusual.

These statistics describe arrest activity, not convictions. A person who was arrested may have had charges dropped, been acquitted at trial, or received a deferred disposition. Arrest counts are not the same as crime rates, and they should not be read that way.

Public Access to Arrest Records Under Washington Law

Washington's Public Records Act at RCW 42.56 covers arrest records held by the Sheriff's Office. Agencies must respond within five business days of receiving a written request. They can ask for more time if needed, but they must notify you and provide an estimated completion date.

Jail records fall under both the general PRA and the more specific RCW 70.48.100. That statute defines what must be released about any detained person: name, booking dates, charges, offense dates, bail amount, and arresting agency. Other records held by the jail are confidential unless the inmate consents in writing or a court orders release.

For statewide arrest history, the MRSC criminal history and arrest records guide provides a useful overview of how Washington agencies handle these records and what rules apply at the state and local level.

If you need a statewide background check that covers all of Washington, the WSP WATCH portal and the Criminal History Section are the primary tools. A county jail record only shows what happened locally. Someone who was arrested in Spokane, for example, would not show up in Whitman County's records unless they were booked here. The WATCH portal runs a name-based search across all Washington counties for $11 and returns conviction data available to the public under state law.

Cities in Whitman County

Pullman is the largest city in Whitman County and home to Washington State University, with a dedicated arrest records page covering city-specific resources.

Nearby Counties

Adjacent counties in eastern Washington use the same state public records laws but maintain their own jail databases and request procedures.