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About this research: Produced by Heather Flaherty, Chuckanut Health Foundation Executive Director, working independently on evenings and weekends. Claude (Anthropic's AI) was used as research and coding partner. No Chuckanut Health Foundation staff time used. Chuckanut Health Foundation's Executive Director serves as co-chair of the Incarceration Prevention and Reduction Task Force (IPRTF).
Whatcom County Sheriff's Office (WCSO) Booking Data 2025 · Long-Stay Analysis · Chuckanut Health Foundation

Why DWLS 3rd and
FTA Warrants stay
so long.

These two categories have the largest gap between their median and mean length of stay in the Whatcom County booking data. The median is short. The mean is pulled up dramatically by a small number of complex, multi-charge cases. This dashboard shows exactly what is driving those long stays, and whether it is what you might expect.

The claim this data is most likely to face
"These people stay a long time because they are dangerous. The long stays in those categories reflect serious violent offenders."
What the data shows: Among DWLS 3rd long-stay cases (30+ days), 89% have no violent felony charge. Among FTA Warrant long-stay cases, 83% have no violent felony charge. The long stays in both categories are driven primarily by case complexity, multiple accumulated charges, inability to post bail, and case processing time, not by underlying violence.
DWLS 3rd Degree Analysis
What is actually driving the long stays in DWLS 3rd
469 bookings in 2025 involved a DWLS 3rd charge. Median stay: 2 days. Mean stay: 19.6 days. That 9x gap is explained by a specific set of cases, not by the DWLS 3rd charge itself.
Total DWLS 3rd bookings
469
9.9% of all 2025 bookings
Median stay
2 days
Most DWLS 3rd cases resolve very quickly
Mean stay
19.6 days
Pulled up dramatically by a small number of complex cases
Long-stay cases (30+ days)
74
15.8% of DWLS 3rd bookings, but they drive the mean
Long-stay with violent charge
8
Only 10.8% of the 74 long-stay cases have any violent felony
DWLS 3rd Length of Stay Distribution
53.8% of DWLS 3rd bookings are resolved within 3 days. The long tail matters for cost but not for typical case volume.

Source: WCSO Public Booking Data 2025. Chuckanut Health Foundation analysis. LOS from case-level release date vs. booking date.

Estimated Cost by Stay Length
The 15.7% of DWLS 3rd cases lasting 31+ days account for a disproportionate share of total incarceration cost for this category.

Source: WCSO 2025 + Whatcom County Executive Budget ($250/day). Cost calculated as midpoint of each bracket multiplied by bookings in that bracket.

Three reasons a DWLS 3rd booking becomes a long stay
1
Accumulated co-charges from other cases
When a person is stopped for DWLS 3rd, officers run their record. Outstanding warrants from prior cases appear. Those cases are consolidated into one booking. The person is now held not just on DWLS 3rd but on FTA warrants for theft, trespass, drug possession, or DUI from previous incidents. Each additional case adds complexity and time to resolution.
~55%
of long-stay DWLS 3rd cases have DUI or drug co-charges from other cases
2
No Bail Allowed or Cash Only bail on related charges
When DWLS 3rd appears alongside a DUI recidivist pattern (DWLS 1st or 2nd, ignition interlock violation, prior DUI conviction), the judge may set No Bail Allowed or Cash Only bail on the DUI-related charges. The person cannot be released until a hearing. This is not because of the DWLS 3rd charge; it is because the full picture of the case includes a serious driving history.
~25%
of long-stay DWLS 3rd cases show a No Bail or Cash Only bail type
3
Case processing time for multi-case bookings
Some of the longest DWLS 3rd stays (the 365+ day outliers) show release dates that appear to be sentence completion dates, not booking release dates. These cases involve a person sentenced to serve time on multiple consolidated cases, with DWLS 3rd as one charge in a much larger picture. The charge counts but the stay is driven by something else entirely.
7 cases
show 365-day LOS values, suggesting a full year served, not a pretrial hold
What Charges Appear Alongside DWLS 3rd in Long-Stay Cases (30+ days)
Co-charges in the 74 long-stay DWLS 3rd bookings. These are the charges that explain the extended hold, not the DWLS 3rd itself.
Co-chargeCharge classOccurrences
DUIGross Misd.29
Oper. Vehicle w/out Ignition InterlockGross Misd.19
Theft 3rd / FTAMisdemeanor16
Drug Possession (controlled substance)Gross Misd./Felony C11
Drug Possession (known possession)Gross Misd.8
Obstruct Police OfficerMisdemeanor8
Criminal Trespass 1st / FTAGross Misd.7
ShopliftingMisdemeanor7
Attempting to Elude PoliceFelony B/Gross Misd.7
DWLS 2nd DegreeGross Misd.7
Assault 4th / FTAMisdemeanor6
Department of Corrections (DOC) DetainerAdmin hold6
Assault 2nd (violent felony)Felony B3
Arson 1st (violent felony)Felony A1

Source: WCSO Booking Data 2025. Chuckanut Health Foundation analysis. Only bookings with 30+ day LOS included. "Violent felony" = Felony A or B with elements of violence or threat. Assault 2nd and Arson 1st account for 4 of the 74 long-stay cases (5.4%).

DWLS 3rd: Short vs. Long Stay
The typical DWLS 3rd case looks nothing like the long-stay case.
Typical case (0-7 days, 63% of DWLS 3rd)
Traffic stop. Driver's license is suspended, usually for unpaid fines. Booked, bail set at $1,000-$1,100 (appearance bond). Released within 1-3 days. Court date set. The original suspension was a civil infraction that cascaded into a criminal booking.
Long-stay case (30+ days, 15.8% of DWLS 3rd)
Traffic stop surfaces DWLS 3rd plus an outstanding DUI warrant, prior drug charges, FTA on multiple cases, and possibly an ignition interlock violation. Now this person has 4-8 cases being resolved simultaneously. They may not be able to post bail on the DUI-related charges. Or they are sentenced to serve time on the combined case load, with DWLS 3rd as one of many charges.
The policy implication Resolving the underlying license suspension (the civil infraction) before it generates FTA warrants would prevent the long-stay case from forming. A person who gets their DWLS 3rd resolved quickly, through a fine forgiveness program or reinstatement assistance, never accumulates the FTA warrants and co-charges that create the expensive multi-case consolidated booking.
FTA Warrant Analysis
What is actually driving the long stays in FTA Warrant bookings
1,213 warrant-only bookings in 2025. Median stay: 2 days. Mean stay: 11.2 days for warrant-only, 37.4 days for warrant-plus-new-crime. The 124 long-stay warrant-only cases tell a specific story.
Warrant-only bookings
1,213
25.6% of all 2025 bookings
Warrant-only median stay
2 days
Most warrant executions resolve quickly
Warrant + new crime mean stay
37.4 days
When a warrant booking also has a new charge, stays are far longer
Long-stay warrant-only (30+ days)
124
10.2% of warrant-only bookings
Long-stay with violent charge
21
Only 16.9% of 124 long-stay warrant-only cases have a violent felony
What Separates Short-Stay from Long-Stay Warrant Bookings
Top underlying charges for warrant bookings that resolve in 0-7 days vs. those held 30+ days.

Source: WCSO Booking Data 2025. Chuckanut Health Foundation analysis. Charges from all rows in the booking record, FTA/FTC suffix removed.

Bail Type in Long-Stay Warrant Cases (30+ days)
What bail type was set for the 124 long-stay warrant-only bookings.

Source: WCSO Booking Data 2025. 70 Appearance Bond, 26 No Bail Allowed, 19 Cash Only, 9 other/blank. Note: 19 Cash Only cases means this person had to post the full cash amount, not a bond percentage, to be released.

Underlying Charges for Long-Stay (30+ days) Warrant-Only Bookings
What the warrants were for, in the cases that resulted in 30+ day holds.
Underlying chargeCharge classCount
Theft 3rd (under $750)Misdemeanor36
Burglary 2ndFelony C33
DUIGross Misd.21
Criminal Trespass 1st & 2ndMisd./Gross Misd.31
ShopliftingMisdemeanor14
Assault 4thMisdemeanor14
Theft 2nd ($750-$5,000)Felony C11
Drug PossessionGross Misd./Felony C7
DWLS 3rd Degree / FTAMisdemeanor8
Possession of Stolen VehicleFelony C5
Attempting to EludeFelony B/Gross Misd.5
Robbery 1st (violent felony)Felony A4
Assault 3rd on LE OfficerFelony B6

Source: WCSO Booking Data 2025. Chuckanut Health Foundation analysis. FTA/FTC suffixes removed from charge descriptions for clarity. "Violent felony" subset: Robbery 1st (4), Assault 3rd LE (6), and a small number of Burglary 1st = approx. 10-15% of the 124 long-stay cases have a charge typically associated with violence or physical threat.

Why Warrant Cases Stay Long
Three distinct mechanisms, with very different policy implications.
Multiple accumulated cases (most common)
The person has missed court on several cases over months or years. All warrants execute at once. Now they have 4-12 cases being processed simultaneously. Release requires every case to be resolved or a judge to set bail across all of them. This takes time even when none of the underlying charges is serious.
Cash Only or No Bail Allowed
19 of the 124 long-stay warrant cases had Cash Only bail, meaning the person could not use a bondsman. 26 had No Bail Allowed, meaning a judge must review before release. For someone without financial resources, even a $500 Cash Only bail on a Theft 3rd warrant can mean weeks in jail while awaiting a hearing.
Serious charge in the mix (minority)
Approximately 17% of long-stay warrant-only cases do have a violent felony charge: Robbery 1st, Assault 3rd on a law enforcement officer, or Burglary 1st. For these cases, the long stay reflects the seriousness of those charges, not the FTA warrant itself. The warrant is the mechanism of the booking; the violent charge is the reason for the extended hold.
What separates short-stay from long-stay warrant bookings The short-stay warrant population is dominated by DWLS 3rd FTA (148 cases) and simple single-case warrants that resolve quickly because there is only one case to clear and bail is modest. The long-stay population is dominated by Theft 3rd (36 cases) and Burglary 2nd (33 cases) warrant holders who have accumulated multiple cases, have modest or Cash Only bail, and are waiting for complex multi-case resolution. Neither population is primarily characterized by violence.
Side-by-Side Comparison
DWLS 3rd and FTA Warrants: what the numbers actually show
These two categories together contribute an estimated $4.87M annually in incarceration cost and approximately 53.3 beds to Whatcom County's average daily population. Here is the full picture.
DWLS 3rd: Full LOS Profile
469 bookings. The 88 same-day releases and 164 resolved in 1-3 days together = 54% of all DWLS 3rd cases at near-zero cost. The long tail is real but narrow.
0 days
88
$0 / booking
1-3 days
164
~$500 / booking
4-7 days
47
~$1,250 / booking
8-14 days
30
~$2,750 / booking
15-30 days
57
~$5,500 / booking
31-60 days
35
~$11,250 / booking
61+ days
37
~$22,500 / booking
The 72 cases lasting 31+ days (15.4% of DWLS 3rd bookings) account for an estimated $1.2M of the $1.68M total annual DWLS 3rd incarceration cost. Those 72 cases are almost entirely multi-charge consolidated bookings where DWLS 3rd is one charge among many.

Source: WCSO Booking Data 2025. Cost estimated at $250/day (Whatcom County Executive Budget).

FTA Warrant: Full LOS Profile (warrant-only)
1,213 warrant-only bookings. Median 2 days. The 124 long-stay cases account for 10.2% of warrant-only bookings but a large share of the cost.
0 days
182
$0 / booking
1-3 days
~486
~$500 / booking
4-7 days
~194
~$1,250 / booking
8-14 days
~121
~$2,750 / booking
15-30 days
~107
~$5,500 / booking
31-60 days
~61
~$11,250 / booking
61+ days
~63
~$22,500 / booking
The 124 long-stay warrant-only cases have a mean LOS of approximately 60-70 days and account for a substantial share of the $3.19M total FTA Warrant annual incarceration cost. 83% of those 124 cases have no violent felony charge.

Source: WCSO Booking Data 2025. Warrant-only = all charges are administrative/warrant type. Cost estimated at $250/day.

The data verdict on the "violent people" claim
Long stays in DWLS 3rd and FTA Warrant categories are driven by case complexity, not violence.

For DWLS 3rd: 89% of the 74 long-stay cases have no violent felony charge. The long stays occur when a DWLS 3rd booking surfaces a constellation of prior unresolved cases. The longest stays involve DUI recidivism (license revocation cascading into DWLS charges), accumulated FTA warrants on theft and trespass charges, and drug possession in the same booking. These are people in complex legal situations, not primarily violent offenders.

For FTA Warrants: 83% of the 124 long-stay warrant-only cases have no violent felony charge. The long-stay warrant population is dominated by Theft 3rd FTAs, Burglary 2nd FTAs, DUI FTAs, and Trespass FTAs. The people staying longest are those with multiple accumulated cases who cannot post bail. 19 of the 124 had Cash Only bail, meaning even a $500 bail amount kept them in jail for weeks.

What this means for the planning conversation: Both categories have known intervention pathways that do not require more jail capacity. License reinstatement assistance resolves DWLS 3rd at the source. Warrant resolution clinics, case navigators, and court reminder systems address FTA accumulation. The people staying 30, 60, or 90 days on these charges are not staying because they are dangerous. They are staying because of case complexity, bail inability, and the time it takes to process multiple simultaneous cases. Those are system-design problems, not capacity problems.

Beta Project - Under active development. Errors: info@chuckanuthealthfoundation.org