Find out whether they have been booked.

Booking staff work from identifiers, not descriptions. The more of these you have, the faster the answer.

Booking takes time. Someone arrested an hour ago may not be in the system, and that gap causes families a lot of unnecessary panic. If the first call comes back empty, wait an hour and try again.

Transport also matters: an arrest anywhere in the county ends up at the same detention center, but the drive and intake still have to happen first.

Get the charge and the bail amount if it has been set. Misdemeanors are often on a schedule and known immediately; felony bail is set at magistration, usually within twenty-four hours.

Then call us with those two numbers and we can tell you exactly what the bond costs and how fast it can move.

If you would rather not do this at 2 a.m. with a jailer on hold, give us the name and date of birth. We make these calls every night and we know who to ask.