King County jail inmates are now online
The Jail Inmate Lookup Service lists, among other things, who is in jail, who has been placed into custody or released in the last 24 hours, what charge someone is being held on, how much bail is and when families and friends can visit.
Inmates can be looked up by name or any combination of date of birth, gender and race.
King County Executive Ron Sims and King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng said in a news conference today the information should be particularly helpful to families of inmates and victims of domestic violence, who will be able to better track where inmates are in the detention process.
The two detention facilities in King County are the downtown jail and the Regional Justice Center in Kent.
The Web site does not include information about people being held in municipal facilities, such as a city jail.
Police officers and law enforcement agencies can use another part of the Web site, accessed only by passwords, to instantly look up anybody's detailed criminal history, including booking dates, mug shots, last-known addresses, possible aliases and associated vehicles.
That kind of information will help officers quickly discern what type of person they're dealing with, said King County Sheriff's Chief Sue Rahr.
The law-enforcement database covers all inmates who have been booked in a county jail since 1984.
Pierce and Snohomish counties already offer similar services.
The Web site is accessible at www.metrokc.gov/dad/inmatelookup.
Michael Ko: 206-515-5653 or mko@seattletimes.com.