Benton County
221,722 people, served by 6 police agencies that report to the FBI.
How a case moves here
Benton County follows Washington law on arrests, release, and courts. These rules are the same in every county in the state; the full set covers prosecutors, defense, and jails too.
- Who decides release first
A judge or court commissioner sets release at the preliminary appearance. Before that, a district or municipal court may adopt its own bail schedule that the jail applies; adopting one is optional and court by court.
CrRLJ 3.2CrR 3.2.1RCW 10.99.045RCW 3.42.010- Time to see a judge
A judge must decide probable cause within 48 hours of an arrest, counting weekends and holidays. The person must then appear before the court by the close of business on the next court day.
CrR 3.2.1(a), (c), (d)- Money bail
Court rules presume release on personal recognizance except in capital cases. A court may require a bond only after finding a likely failure to appear or a danger, must use the least restrictive conditions, and must consider the person's financial resources when setting a bond.
CrR 3.2- Courts
Each county has a superior court, which tries felonies. District courts hear misdemeanors and gross misdemeanors and can hold felony preliminary hearings, and municipal courts hear cases under city ordinances.
RCW 2.08.060RCW 3.66.060RCW 35.20.030- Judges and magistrates
Voters elect superior court judges on a nonpartisan ballot to four-year terms. District judges are also elected for four years and must be lawyers, except in districts under 5,000 people where a lay candidate passed the qualifying exam by 2003. Mayors appoint municipal judges for four-year terms unless the city makes the job elective.
RCW 2.08.060, 2.08.070RCW 29A.52.231RCW 3.34.060RCW 3.50.040, 3.50.050
Read from the statutes and court rules cited, 2026-09-30. The pretrial section rests on a secondary summary. Which counties use commissioners for preliminary appearances was not checked.
What this county does differently
Nothing county-specific yet
Cities and towns
- Kennewick85,295
- Richland62,753
- West Richland17,586
- Prosser6,305
- Benton City3,695
Every city, village, town, and township with any of its land in Benton County, largest first. Population, the whole place's: Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020 to 2024.
Police agencies
- Kennewick Police DepartmentCity police department87,424 served
- Richland Police DepartmentCity police department65,273 served
- Benton County Sheriff's OfficeSheriff or county police41,691 served
- West Richland Police DepartmentCity police department19,483 served
- Prosser Police DepartmentCity police department6,643 served
- No name WA0030400City police department3,980 served
Agencies: FBI NIBRS master file 2025 batch headers; names from the FBI agency list, pulled 2026-09-29. An agency that serves several counties appears on each. Population served is the FBI's figure.
Crime
The crime index
| Offense | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | Per 100k | Washington |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crime | 589 | 722 | 668 | 621 | 535 | 291 | 339 |
| Murder | 8 | 21 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 4.5 | 4.2 |
| Rape | 134 | 138 | 94 | 114 | 98 | 54 | 40 |
| Robbery | 93 | 97 | 109 | 99 | 85 | 45 | 73 |
| Aggravated assault | 354 | 466 | 453 | 402 | 350 | 188 | 222 |
| Property crime | 5,782 | 7,613 | 5,667 | 5,249 | 4,323 | 2,654 | 2,753 |
| Burglary | 941 | 972 | 733 | 591 | 517 | 348 | 459 |
| Larceny | 4,339 | 5,402 | 4,123 | 3,724 | 3,364 | 1,942 | 1,799 |
| Motor vehicle theft | 502 | 1,239 | 811 | 934 | 442 | 364 | 495 |
| Arson | 46 | 30 | 31 | 13 | 11 | 12 | 17 |
Outside the crime index
| Offense | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | Per 100k | Washington |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All offenses outside the crime index | 5,893 | 6,563 | 7,184 | 7,544 | 6,576 | 3,130 | 2,513 |
| Simple assault and intimidation | 1,806 | 2,102 | 2,435 | 2,644 | 2,537 | 1,068 | 795 |
| Vandalism | 1,846 | 2,176 | 2,404 | 2,463 | 1,902 | 1,000 | 928 |
| Fraud | 924 | 890 | 823 | 772 | 757 | 386 | 305 |
| Drug abuse violations | 493 | 434 | 638 | 772 | 603 | 273 | 184 |
| Weapons: carrying, possessing, etc. | 161 | 227 | 283 | 248 | 247 | 108 | 84 |
| Stolen property: buying, receiving, possessing | 164 | 272 | 195 | 206 | 156 | 92 | 82 |
| Forgery and counterfeiting | 145 | 128 | 69 | 78 | 43 | 43 | 43 |
| Embezzlement | 10 | 10 | 7 | 10 | 1 | 3.5 | 2.9 |
| Sex offenses (except rape and prostitution) | 233 | 185 | 180 | 189 | 160 | 88 | 36 |
| Prostitution and commercialized vice | 5 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 2.9 | 3.5 |
| Gambling | 5 | 1 | Too few for a rate: the count is under 20. | 0.2 | |||
| Other Group A offenses | 101 | 135 | 143 | 155 | 161 | 64 | 49 |
| Manslaughter by negligence (not in the total) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | Too few for a rate: the count is under 20. | 0.7 |
| Human trafficking (not in the total) | 2 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 6 | Too few for a rate: the count is under 20. | 1 |
Offenses agencies in Benton County reported to the FBI in incident detail (NIBRS), each year, the second table by the arrest class each offense falls in. Per 100k: offenses per 100,000 people the reporting agencies police, 2021 to 2025 added together, beside Washington's rate over the same years. Agencies that reported part of a year are counted with their people, as the state's rates count them. – means too few for a rate: the count is under 20.
Source: FBI NIBRS national master files, each agency's offenses and the FBI's population for it. Washington: the crime index: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, CrimeDB's chosen value per year (the state page's figures); outside it: FBI NIBRS, agencies that sent incident detail.