The jail, two courts, the Sheriff, public defense, and the budgets behind them — tracked with primary sources and aggregate data. Neutral on the facts. Clear about the outcomes.
Explore the record How we source itEverything connected to public safety in Whatcom County, in one place — updated from the source.
Population, booking restrictions, who books people in, and the repeat-cycle math.
● Dashboard liveBellingham Municipal & county courts: caseloads, dispositions, the warrant backlog, access hours.
● Page liveContracts, per-case pay, caseloads, and outcomes by representation.
● Page liveBooking policy, staffing, and enforcement decisions set by capacity.
● Page liveAdopted budgets, the $205M jail, the $20M crisis center, levies.
● Data liveWhere these policies are set — agendas, votes, and what was decided.
● Feed liveDo the alternatives to jail work? The evidence, strengths and limits alike.
● Evidence reviewThe record above stays neutral. These two layers are our read of it, kept separate on purpose.
The system is funded and judged by inputs — cases filed, dispositions cleared, fees paid. We measure whether anyone actually stopped cycling through: recidivism, failures-to-appear, and the compliance treadmill.
Read the analysis →Victims of crime deserve a voice that is neither weaponized nor dismissed. The harm is real. This is where the people on both sides of the cycle are heard.
Victim impact →As a victim, a family member, or someone caught in the cycle — we never publish without permission.
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