Accessing Washington Criminal Records
Washington state criminal records are available to us through various public forms but to get certain specific criminal records we have to pay a small administrative fee. However there are online sites available that can help us in obtaining the criminal records that we require. These records are national, state, federal, county and city criminal records. There are many resources that are available from the government for these.
State Criminal Records Repository
Unlike some other states in the United States, the state repository of Washington permits the private sector to access its criminal records. You can call the Washington State Repository at 360-705-5100.
Washington State Department of Corrections
You can find valuable information regarding offenders from http://www.doc.wa.gov . The state department of correction renders victim services that ensure the voices of the victims are heard, valued and also ensure community safety by preventing them from future harm. To get more information about these services you can call 1-800-322-2201 or you can email victimservices@doc1.wa.gov .
To get this service you need to register by filling out a simple form which is a victim services application. This program is voluntary. While filling out the form, if you do not have all the details you can at least mention the offender's name and you can submit the form. After you have been successfully registered, you will be notified by mail regarding the victim service program. In case your phone number or address changes, you can call (800) 322-2201 to inform them about these changes.
The Department provides a DOC number and location of incarcerated offenders available to the public. This information is updated everyday. You can search for an offender by simply punching in the DOC number or his last name. To get more information regarding offenders who are currently under the supervision of the Department of Corrections you can call (360) 725-8213 for in-state offenders anytime Monday to Friday from 8.00 am to 5.00 pm. For out-of-state offenders you can call (360) 725-8900.
United States Department of Justice
To get information regarding the sex offenders you can log on to http://www.nsopw.gov. The criteria vary from state to state as per the individual jurisdiction for searching. This is simply because the information that is found here is not hosted by the federal government but by individual state jurisdiction.
Washington State Patrol Identification and Criminal History Section (WASIS)
This website has been established as an official information center for providing criminal history conviction records for Washington State. The records that are held in this vault are records provided by Washington courts and criminal justice agencies. This database contains records regarding conviction, arrests, pending dispositions and details regarding kidnap offenders and registered sex cases. It also includes criminal history files such as arrest records that are not disclosed to the public for viewing.
You can log on to the website at http://watch.wsp.wa.gov/ for these records. However WASIS cannot guarantee that the records obtained will be accurate on the basis of names, date of birth and other identifiers. They do state that information which is based on fingerprint verification is reliable. If you search this website then you will come across one these results:
- List of records that will closely match the criteria of a search
- No record or no match found to the search criteria
- Duplicate matches will be found based on the criteria
A fee of $10 is charged for each name search irrespective of the search result. Fee payment is acceptable either by credit card or billing account.
Victim Information and Notification Everyday (VINE)
The VINE service is another tool to get information about offenders 24 hours a day. This is a service which is widely used by the victims to get reliable and timely information about the cases and custody status. You can register to use the benefits of this system by toll-free number and get notified by TTY device, email and phone about the status.
Washington State Courts
The Administrative Office of Courts or AOC maintains documents filed at the courts. You can contact the courts to obtain copies of filed cases. A Washington State court directory can be accessed online to find records through http://www.courts.wa.gov/court_dir/ . To obtain court records one can submit a request through the court Judicial Information System (JIS) via an Ad Hoc Report. For obtaining information regarding Washington criminal records you need to download a simple form, which is a request for administrative public records form. After downloading the form you will have to fill out the form and send it to the address given below:
Charles Bates
Public Records Officer
Washington State Administrative Office of the Courts
P.O. Box 41170
Olympia, WA 98504-1170, or you can email publicrecordsofficer@courts.wa.gov. There are charges for photocopying and scanning at 15 cents per page.
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