Cowlitz County

Cowlitz 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.

Pretrial practice

Mapping Pretrial Injustice listed its risk tool in 2021 as a state-specific tool (not named in the list).

MediaJustice and Movement Alliance Project, Mapping Pretrial Injustice county map (data as of fall 2021)

From Mapping Pretrial Injustice, a map compiled by MediaJustice and the Movement Alliance Project, advocacy groups that campaign against pretrial risk assessment tools. Its data is from fall 2021; CrimeDB uses it only where no court, government, or research list covers the county.

• Longview38,069
• Kelso12,684
• Woodland6,487
• Kalama3,050
• Castle Rock2,217

Every city, village, town, and township with any of its land in Cowlitz County, largest first. Population, the whole place's: Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020 to 2024.

• Cowlitz County Sheriff's OfficeSheriff or county police51,343 served
• Longview Police DepartmentCity police department38,401 served
• Kelso Police DepartmentCity police department12,738 served
• Woodland Police DepartmentCity police department6,483 served
• Kalama Police DepartmentCity police department3,172 served
• Castle Rock Police DepartmentCity police department2,444 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.