In Washington this runs through an agency, not a courtroom.
An arrest is not a conviction. A Washington search result does not make that distinction, and a booking photo can outlast the case that produced it by years.
Washington is one of the states where this does not run through a judge. Under RCW § 10.97.060, relief is deletion of non-conviction data from criminal-justice agency files, available once two years have passed since a favourable disposition — or three years from the arrest where no conviction followed.
That is genuinely useful — no hearing, no courtroom, usually no attorney. But it also means the request goes to one specific office in one specific format, and a request sent to the wrong place simply sits there. Confirm the current form and address with the agency before sending.
Two Washington statutes decide what is possible here. The Washington Public Records Act (RCW §§ 42.56.001 to 42.56.904) is why the record is public in the first place. RCW § 10.97.060 is the one that can change it: relief is deletion of non-conviction data from criminal-justice agency files, available once two years have passed since a favourable disposition — or three years from the arrest where no conviction followed.
Washington does not have a statute forcing a private website to delete a booking photo on request. That is the honest position, and it is why the order matters: change what the state holds first, then the sites and the search results have something concrete to act on.
Send each site a written request naming the exact URL, with the disposition or court order attached if you have one, and keep copies and dates — the paper trail is what makes a later demand credible. Removing the page is only half of it: a dead page can sit in Google's index for weeks, and that is cleared separately. Where a page cannot come down at all, suppression is the honest fallback, and we say which one you are buying.
Mugshot sites also syndicate from each other, so the first result is rarely the only one. Search your name alone, with the county, and with "arrest" and "mugshot" — then check image results separately.
### Do I go to court in Washington?
No — under RCW § 10.97.060 this is an agency request, not a court petition. It is deletion of non-conviction data from criminal-justice agency files, available once two years have passed since a favourable disposition — or three years from the arrest where no conviction followed. Send it to the right office in the right format or it simply sits there.
### Do I have to pay the mugshot site in Washington?
Washington has no statute forcing a private site to delete a booking photo, and paying one site does nothing about the copies. Change the record where you can, then pursue the sites on the merits.
### Why is my booking photo public in Washington at all?
Because arrest records are public under the Washington Public Records Act (RCW §§ 42.56.001 to 42.56.904). The law is there so the public can watch how police and courts use their power — the side effect is that a for-profit site can request those records in bulk and republish them.
Often, yes — the route depends on how the case ended and what the state record now shows. The free review determines which grounds apply to your URLs, honestly, including when removal is unlikely.
Paying the publisher is almost never the right first move, and several states prohibit pay-to-remove outright. Change the underlying record where possible, then pursue the site and the search index on the merits.
Straightforward platform-policy removals move in days; record changes and publisher negotiations take weeks or more. A written plan includes per-URL timeframes.
Tell us what was published and where — URLs help. A real person reviews it and comes back with a plain answer about what can and cannot come down, before anything is billed.