Whatcom County · Bellingham

The Courts

Two courts, one backlog — and a large share of cases that never resolve.

○ Beat in progress — building out from the source

Record layer. Aggregate, primary-sourced. Officials and attorneys are named in their public roles; individual defendants are never named.

What we track

Caseload composition and volume — Bellingham Municipal Court and Whatcom County District & Superior courts.
Dispositions — how cases actually end (or don't).
The bench-warrant backlog and how it moves.
Failure-to-appear rates and the citation-to-warrant pipeline.
Public access — the hours a person can actually reach the court.

By the numbers

~4,000

Bench-warrant backlog cited by the presiding judge

Council presentation, Apr 27 2026

3,065

Criminal cases in 2025 (of 27,079 total filings — the rest largely parking & infractions)

Court caseload presentation, 2026

55%

Of a 1,687-case cycler cohort had an open warrant

JIS-Link case data, 2026

31.8%

Failure-to-appear rate in that cohort

JIS-Link case data, 2026

43%

Of those cases never resolved a single charge

JIS-Link case data, 2026

4.5 hrs

A day the public counter is actually open (8–4 advertised)

Posted signage + cob.org, 2026

Why it matters

The courts are funded and staffed on case volume. But volume says nothing about whether a case ever resolves — and in a large share of them, it doesn’t. Restricted public access at the counter compounds the problem, turning missed deadlines into new warrants. We track the calendars, the backlog, and the access hours to show where the process breaks.

The 4.5-Hour Court (analysis) → Outcomes, Not Cases →

Sources

JIS-Link court case data (proceedings, dispositions, warrant/FTA status); the presiding judge’s April 27, 2026 city council presentation; posted court business-hours and cashier-window signage and cob.org. Figures are aggregate; no defendant is named.