A preliminary data analysis presented Nov. 20 to the Justice Project Oversight and Planning Committee found Black and Indigenous residents are substantially overrepresented in Whatcom County jail populations, and analysts called for improved data infrastructure and public reporting to guide policy change.

Leo Anguiano, a data analyst working with the Whatcom Racial Equity Commission, told the committee the team used American Community Survey demographic data (2023–24) and the Whatcom County Sheriff’s jail annual report to calculate a disparity index: jail percentage divided by county percentage. "What we find here is that indigenous and black people are represented with a number of 7 and almost 8 and a half here, which is severely over‑represented compared to the people who are white in Whatcom County," Leo said during the slide presentation.

The slides showed that in 2023 the county population was about 77.6% white while the jail population was about 72.6% white; in contrast, Black people made up roughly 1% of the county population but nearly 8.5% of the jail population in 2023, and Indigenous people comprised about 1.8% of the county population but nearly 13% of the jail population in the same year. Presenters said disparity indices increased between 2023 and 2024 for several groups.

Committee members and presenters emphasized limitations in the available data. Leo and Miriam (Welcome Racial Equity Commission) said Latino ethnicity was inconsistently recorded in the jail data, the sheriff’s report provides daily population snapshots without reliably indicating whether counts represent repeated bookings of the same person, and the dataset lacks sufficient detail to cross‑tabulate demographic markers with specific offense patterns.

"We do not yet have the data to say whether someone was booked multiple times across months," Leo said in response to questions about how the jail report counts individuals. Miriam added that the analysis relied on county datasets and that more granular, cross‑referenced records are needed to answer key policy questions.

Panelists also reviewed offense categories behind the county’s jail population: driving under the influence, warrant‑related arrests (failure to appear/failure to comply), theft/shoplifting and assault made up the bulk of charges in 2023–24. The presenters noted that warrants—often triggered by failure to appear on citations or compliance—accounted for about half of warrant‑related arrests in the two years analyzed.

Members pressed presenters on whether tribal programs had been accounted for. When Dan asked whether Lummi Nation’s "swift, certain and fair" approach was incorporated into the analysis, Leo said the team used publicly available census and sheriff’s report data and had not incorporated that policy into the disparity conclusions.

Committee members framed the findings as a call to action. "The incarcerated system in Whatcom County has failed the community, entirely failed the community," Miriam said, urging members to raise the data and equity concerns with their constituencies and stakeholders.

Presenters proposed next steps: an expanded public report with a fuller methodology and vocabulary, targeted analysis of therapeutic/mental‑health courts using recently shared records, improved collection of race/ethnicity markers by the sheriff’s office, and routine public reporting of program efficacy so successful interventions can be scaled. The committee recommended returning the analysis in a fuller report and requested the presenters work with county staff to obtain additional datasets.

The Justice Project Oversight and Planning Committee does not itself set county law, but members said the findings should inform upcoming Sequential Intercept Model (SIM) mapping and behavioral care center planning so diversion and prevention strategies address disparate impacts.