Walworth County

Walworth County follows Wisconsin 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

For most misdemeanors, a police officer or the jail can take cash bail under the statewide misdemeanor bail schedule. For felonies, a circuit court commissioner or circuit judge sets bail at the initial appearance. Wisconsin bars paid bail bondsmen, so sureties must be unpaid people.

Wis. Stat. 969.07Wis. Stat. 969.065Wis. Stat. 969.12Wis. Stat. 757.69(1)(b)Wis. Stat. 968.075(2m), (5)

Time to see a judge

A person who is arrested must be taken before a judge within a reasonable time in the county where the offense is charged. Wisconsin law sets no number of hours.

Wis. Stat. 970.01(1)

Money bail

Wisconsin courts may set cash bail. A surety must be a state resident and an unpaid natural person, so commercial bail bonds are not allowed.

Wis. Stat. 969.12

Courts

The circuit court in each county hears every felony and misdemeanor. Many cities, towns, and villages have a municipal court, but it hears only local ordinance violations punished by fines, not crimes.

Wis. Const. art. VII, secs. 6-7Wis. Stat. 755.045

Judges and magistrates

Voters elect circuit judges to six-year terms on a ballot with no party label. The chief judge of each judicial district appoints circuit court commissioners, who can hold initial appearances and set bail and must have been licensed lawyers for three years. Municipal judges are elected to terms of up to four years.

Wis. Const. art. VII, sec. 7Wis. Stat. 5.60(1)Wis. Stat. 757.68Wis. Stat. 757.69SCR ch. 75Wis. Stat. 755.01-.02

Read from the statutes and court rules cited, 2026-09-30. Municipal courts are left out of limited_courts because they hear only ordinance forfeiture cases. wispd.org returned errors, so the defense section rests on statute. Whether municipal judges must be lawyers was not checked; it doesn't affect criminal cases.

Pretrial practice

Mapping Pretrial Injustice listed its risk tool in 2021 as the Virginia Pretrial Risk Assessment Instrument (VPRAI).

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.

• Walworth County Sheriff's OfficeCounty23,747 served
• Whitewater Police DepartmentWhitewater city16,072 served
• Delavan Police DepartmentDelavan city10,723 served
• Elkhorn Police DepartmentElkhorn city10,086 served
• Lake Geneva Police DepartmentCity8,789 served
• Mukwonago Police DepartmentMukwonago village8,562 served
• Bloomfield Police DepartmentCity6,561 served
• Geneva Town Police DepartmentGeneva town5,478 served
• Delavan Town Police DepartmentCity5,163 served
• East Troy Police DepartmentEast Troy village5,098 served
• Town of East Troy Police DepartmentCity3,995 served
• Williams Bay Police DepartmentCity2,962 served
• Genoa City Police DepartmentCity2,885 served
• Walworth Police DepartmentCity2,755 served
• Linn Township Police DepartmentCity2,707 served
• Fontana Police DepartmentCity1,857 served
• Sharon Police DepartmentCity1,545 served
• WI0650800City1,531 served
• University of Wisconsin: WhitewaterUniversity or College

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.