Who's wanted: County website lists active warrants

Thousands of people have outstanding warrants from Snohomish County courts.

You can see them all on the county's Outstanding Warrants page. It's split into misdemeanors and felonies.

The Herald wrote about the page getting started in late 2007. Prosecutors at the time said they were hopeful offenders would check on their warrants and take care of them before police did.

The page is still alive today, averaging more than 700 views a month, according to web stats shared by the county. Some of the warrants date back to the 1980s. Those are warrants old enough to be in college, graduate school even.

The site's a little old-fashioned, so it's hard to put too fine a point on any analysis.

Still, the stats note the warrants page as one of the most popular places on the county's website. So was the county jail register. Draw your own conclusions.

Click around and let us know if you find anything interesting. Be warned: Some people listed may be deceased, which could be upsetting for loved ones.

The Snohomish County Sheriff's Office uses a different database to verify warrants, available through emergency dispatch centers, spokeswoman Shari Ireton said. That database isn't publicly accessible.

You'd be surprised how often people seem to lose track of their warrants. I overheard a gentleman at the county courthouse a few months ago asking for directions to where he could find out if he had any warrants.

Like a decaying tooth, a lingering warrant is probably a good problem to get taken care of.