Washington WATCH Criminal Background Check: How to Run and Fix Errors

The Washington WATCH background check is a name-based search of state conviction records run through the Washington State Patrol’s online portal at watch.wsp.wa.gov. Each search costs $11, results appear on screen right after payment, and the database covers only records submitted by Washington law enforcement agencies and courts.¹

How to Run a WATCH Search

Go to watch.wsp.wa.gov and enter the subject’s full name and date of birth. You can search as a guest or create an account, which is useful if you plan to run more than one check over time.²

Pay the $11 fee with a credit or debit card. The fee is charged per name and applies whether the search finds records or not.¹ Results load immediately after payment.

Save the results before you close the page. WATCH doesn’t guarantee that you can return to a completed search, so download or print the report during the same session. A PDF copy is enough for personal records; employers using the report for hiring should keep it alongside the applicant’s signed authorization.

What a WATCH Report Shows

WATCH pulls from the criminal history database kept by the Washington State Patrol’s Identification and Criminal History Section. Under state law, conviction records can be released without restriction, so every Washington conviction on file can appear in your results no matter how old it is.³

Arrests without convictions are treated differently. If someone was arrested, cited, or charged and no final court decision has been entered, the record counts as “non-conviction data” once proceedings are no longer actively pending. The statute presumes proceedings are no longer active once more than a year has passed since the arrest or charge without a disposition.⁴ A pending case from the last twelve months may show up. An arrest that went nowhere and aged past that window generally will not appear in a standard WATCH report.

Dismissed charges, acquittals, and stale arrests fall under restricted non-conviction data. Criminal justice agencies can share this information with each other, and certain statutorily authorized employers can receive it, but a public WATCH search won’t return it.³

WATCH does not include federal crimes, offenses committed in other states, juvenile records, or civil matters. It’s a Washington-only database.¹

When a Name-Based Search Isn’t Enough

A name-based WATCH search matches on name and date of birth. That’s fine for most people, but common names sometimes return a “Multiple Hits” flag identifying several possible matches, and a mistyped name entered into the system years ago can cause a “No Record” result for someone who does have a history.

Fingerprint-based checks solve both problems. The Washington State Patrol’s database links arrests to fingerprints, so a fingerprint comparison confirms exactly whose record you’re looking at.² The trade-off is that you have to appear in person. Washington uses IdentoGO locations for electronic fingerprint capture for many licensing and background purposes.⁵

A fingerprint search through WATCH costs $15. For professional licensing through the Department of Licensing, the combined fingerprint and background check fee is $33.05 for a state-only check or $45.05 for a state and national check.⁵ Some occupations, including security guards, bail bond agents, and real estate brokers, must complete fingerprint-based checks as a condition of licensure.

Filling the Gaps Outside Washington

Because WATCH is limited to Washington records, anyone who needs a national picture has to look elsewhere.

FBI Identity History Summary

The FBI’s Identity History Summary, sometimes called a “rap sheet,” pulls together criminal history records from all 50 states. It costs $18 and requires a fingerprint submission rather than just a name.⁶ You can submit fingerprints electronically at participating U.S. Post Office locations or through an FBI-approved channeler, or mail a completed fingerprint card directly to the FBI.

The report has a well-documented completeness problem. Roughly half of the records in the FBI database are missing the final disposition, meaning they may show an arrest without indicating whether the person was convicted, acquitted, or had charges dropped.⁶ If a report shows an arrest without a disposition, chase down the outcome before drawing any conclusions.

PACER for Federal Court Records

Federal criminal cases, including drug trafficking, fraud, and immigration offenses prosecuted in U.S. District Courts, won’t appear in WATCH or in any state database. Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) provides electronic access to federal court records across appellate, district, and bankruptcy courts. A free account lets you search a specific court or use the PACER Case Locator to check nationwide. Access costs $0.10 per page with a $3.00 cap per document, and fees are waived for any quarter in which a user’s charges total $30 or less.⁷

If You’re Running WATCH for Hiring

Running the search is the easy part. Employers who use background checks in hiring decisions face federal and Washington rules that apply on top of the search itself.

FCRA Disclosure and Authorization

Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, before obtaining a background screening report on an applicant, an employer must give the applicant a written disclosure stating that a report may be obtained. The disclosure has to be a standalone document. It cannot be tucked inside a job application or combined with liability waivers or certifications. The applicant then provides written authorization to pull the report.⁸ The authorization can share a page with the disclosure, but nothing else can.⁹

Adverse Action Notices

If you decide not to hire someone based on what a background check turns up, federal law requires a two-step notification. Before making the final decision, send the applicant a copy of the report and a written summary of their FCRA rights. This pre-adverse action notice gives them a chance to flag errors.¹⁰

After the final decision, send an adverse action notice that includes the reporting agency’s name and contact information, a statement that the agency did not make the hiring decision, and notice that the applicant has 60 days to request a free copy of the report and to dispute inaccuracies.¹¹ Skipping either step invites federal litigation.

EEOC Guidance on Criminal Records

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has said that blanket policies excluding anyone with a criminal record create legal risk under Title VII. Because criminal records disproportionately affect certain racial groups, automatic exclusion can constitute disparate impact discrimination unless the employer can show the policy is job-related and consistent with business necessity.¹²

Meeting that standard usually requires weighing three factors: the nature and seriousness of the offense, the time that has passed since the offense or completion of the sentence, and the nature of the job. The EEOC also recommends an individualized assessment giving the applicant a chance to explain the circumstances and present evidence of rehabilitation. Running a WATCH search and rejecting anyone with a conviction, without working through these factors, invites a discrimination claim.¹²

Washington’s Fair Chance Act

Washington adds its own timing rule. Under the Fair Chance Act, employers cannot ask about criminal records on a job application, inquire about them during initial screening, or run a background check until after making a conditional offer of employment. Job ads that say things like “no felons” or “no criminal background” are also prohibited.¹³

The law carves out exceptions for positions involving unsupervised access to children under 18, vulnerable adults, or vulnerable persons, along with employers required by federal or state law to check criminal history for specific positions, law enforcement agencies, and entities regulated by certain federal financial industry rules.¹³ Starting July 1, 2026, the law applies to employers with 15 or more employees. Running a WATCH search before extending a conditional offer violates the Fair Chance Act unless one of the exceptions applies.

FCRA Reporting Time Limits

When a third-party consumer reporting agency provides a background check for employment, federal law caps how far back non-conviction records can go. Arrests, dismissed charges, and acquittals more than seven years old generally cannot be reported, with the clock running from the date of the original arrest or charge.¹⁴ Convictions have no federal time limit. These FCRA limits apply to reports from consumer reporting agencies, not to a WATCH search you run directly.

Fixing an Error in Your WATCH Report

If your report shows something that’s wrong or incomplete, Washington law gives you a right to challenge it. Under RCW 10.97.080, any person who believes they are the subject of a criminal record kept by a criminal justice agency can appear in person during business hours to inspect that record.¹⁵

Contact the Washington State Patrol’s Identification and Criminal History Section to open a dispute. The agency may require fingerprinting to confirm identity, and you should bring court documents or other official proof showing the record is wrong. The State Patrol is required to keep rules for resolving these disputes, and when a record is corrected, the agency must disseminate the corrected information to anyone who previously received the inaccurate version. That correction process is allowed up to 90 days.¹⁵

Removing a Legitimate Conviction

Fixing an error is different from removing an accurate conviction. Washington allows certain convictions to be “vacated,” which withdraws the guilty plea or verdict and dismisses the charges. A vacated conviction no longer appears in standard background check results, and you can legally state that you were not convicted of the offense.

Eligibility is narrow and time-based. Felony vacations under RCW 9.94A.640 exclude most violent offenses and crimes against persons, and they carry waiting periods of at least ten years from release for a Class B felony and at least five years for a Class C felony.¹⁶ Misdemeanor vacations under RCW 9.96.060 generally require three years after the later of sentencing, release from confinement, or release from supervision, with a ten-year wait for DUI and other alcohol-related driving offenses and a five-year wait plus additional conditions for domestic violence convictions.¹⁷ For either type, you cannot have pending charges when you file, and a new conviction inside the look-back period will sink the petition. Courts have no discretion to shorten these waiting periods.

1
Washington State Patrol. Washington Access to Criminal History
2
Washington State Patrol. Criminal History – Washington State Patrol
3
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code RCW 10.97.050 – Dissemination of Criminal History Record Information
4
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code RCW 10.97.030 – Definitions
5
Washington State Department of Licensing. Fingerprinting and Background Checks
6
Federal Bureau of Investigation. Identity History Summary Checks Frequently Asked Questions
7
PACER. PACER: Public Access to Court Electronic Records
8
Federal Trade Commission. Background Checks on Prospective Employees: Keep Required Disclosures Simple
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 15 Section 1681b – Permissible Purposes of Consumer Reports
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 15 Section 1681b – Permissible Purposes of Consumer Reports
11
Federal Trade Commission. Fair Credit Reporting Act
12
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Enforcement Guidance on the Consideration of Arrest and Conviction Records in Employment Decisions Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act
13
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code RCW 49.94.010 – Employer Inquiries About Arrests or Convictions
14
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 15 Section 1681c – Requirements Relating to Information Contained in Consumer Reports
15
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code RCW 10.97.080 – Inspection of Information by Subject, Challenges and Corrections
16
FindLaw. Washington Code RCW 9.94A.640 – Vacation of Offender Record of Conviction
17
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code RCW 9.96.060 – Vacation of Record of Conviction