The New Mexico Department of Public Safety's Law Enforcement Records Bureau, LERB, processes and maintains the criminal records reported by law enforcement and criminal justice agencies across the state and answers the inquiries made against them, typically background checks for employment, law enforcement investigations and public records requests. The State Central Repository for Criminal History it runs holds arrest record information on persons arrested in New Mexico for felonies, misdemeanors punishable by six months or more of imprisonment, and DWI offenses, built from the fingerprint cards taken at arrest and submitted by the arresting agency, so its completeness and accuracy depend on the contributing agencies.
Access follows the Arrest Record Information Act. Under Section 29-10-6(A) NMSA 1978 an individual may inspect arrest record information concerning them in person, through counsel or through an authorized agent, and the bureau's notarized release form is the only door: with the required release and proper payment, all adult arrest records are released. New Mexico has no public name search of the repository.
- By mail: the Authorization for Release of Information, completed legibly, notarized and bearing the original signature, with $15.00 per record check by money order or cashier's check payable to the Department of Public Safety, to DPS, P.O. Box 1628, Santa Fe, NM 87504-1628, Attn: LERB Customer Engagement Team; 7 to 15 working days from receipt.
- Police Certificate: a Police Certificate of Good Standing, usually for immigration, costs $33.00 together with the background check.
- Fingerprint based checks: the New Mexico Applicant Fingerprint Processing system, NMAPS, fully electronic, run by IDEMIA at IdentoGO centers since May 1, 2023 for the state and federal checks an agency requires; the agency hears from DPS within 24 to 48 hours and from the FBI within 48 to 72 hours.
- In person: manual fingerprinting at DPS headquarters, 4491 Cerrillos Rd., Santa Fe, NM 87507, Monday through Friday 8:30 AM to 4 PM, $9.00 for the first two cards and $2.50 for each additional card; the bureau answers at (505) 827-9181.
Written by SearchSystems.net from New Mexico's own systems: the Department of Public Safety Fingerprinting and Background Checks page, the Department of Public Safety Law Enforcement Records Bureau page, the Authorization for Release of Information form, the Fingerprint Background Check Services frequently asked questions, the Department of Public Safety Expungements page, each read on October 14, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
The release form and the $15 check
The fingerprinting and background checks page sets out the in state check. To obtain arrest record information, the Department of Public Safety Authorization for Release of Information form, available in English and Spanish, must be completely and legibly filled out and submitted to the bureau; it must be notarized, the department must receive the form with the original signature, and the fee is $15.00 per record check by money order or cashier's check payable to the Department of Public Safety. The form, revised July 2024, has the applicant print their name, Social Security number and date of birth, and under Section 29-10-6(A) appoint a named agent, or SELF, to inspect and obtain copies of any New Mexico arrest fingerprint card supported arrest record information the department maintains, felony and misdemeanor arrests and information from the relevant fingerprint databases included; the applicant releases the custodians and the department from liability, signs before a notary public, and the release stays valid for up to 120 days from the date signed. An employer or licensing body that needs the record is therefore named on the form by the applicant as the authorized agent. The turnaround is 7 to 15 working days from the date of receipt, depending on volume and workload, and the department asks that requests come only by mail.
The Police Certificate of Good Standing
A person who needs a Police Certificate of Good Standing, usually for immigration purposes, pays $33.00 for the certification together with the background check, on the same release and by the same mailed route.
NMAPS: electronic fingerprint checks for agencies
For the federal and state background checks that New Mexico law requires of licensees, employees and volunteers in regulated fields, the department runs the New Mexico Applicant Fingerprint Processing system, NMAPS, which it describes as totally electronic and the means for residents to complete their required checks quickly. The applicant registers, schedules an appointment and arranges payment on the vendor's site, with the agency or employer supplying the registration details, brings proof of identity from the acceptable list, and is printed at an IdentoGO enrollment center; the department's transition FAQ records that IDEMIA took over from Thales on May 1, 2023, opening with ten centers and planning up to fifty, with no mobile fingerprinting, payment by American Express, Discover, Mastercard or Visa credit card, a Mastercard or Visa debit card, electronic check or an invoice account for state agencies, and a cardscan route by which a non resident registers, pays and mails completed fingerprint cards. The first point of contact on status or delay is the agency the applicant submitted the application and prints to: once prints reach DPS electronically, the agency receives the department's response within 24 to 48 hours and the FBI's within 48 to 72 hours, and questions about electronic fingerprinting go to nmaps.dps@dps.nm.gov.
Fingerprinting at headquarters
The department offers manual fingerprinting at its headquarters at 4491 Cerrillos Rd., Santa Fe, NM 87507, Monday through Friday from 8:30 AM to 4 PM, reached at (505) 827-9181, for $9.00 for the first two cards and $2.50 for each additional card. A victim of identity theft, or anyone else, is directed to the Attorney General's site for the Identity Theft Prevention and Repair Kit and to the Federal Trade Commission for prevention.
What the bureau keeps
The bureau's own page states its mission as maintaining complete and accurate records and answering the public and the criminal justice agencies efficiently, and lists its direct lines: fingerprinting and background checks at (505) 827-9181, concealed handgun carry licenses at (505) 841-8053, and inspection of public records at (505) 476-2400 or through the department's Public Records Center. Besides criminal history, the bureau holds every State Police and Motor Transportation Police uniform crash report, kept 25 years when a fatality is involved and 10 years otherwise under 1.21.2.927 NMAC, released on written or oral request with photos, dashcam and diagrams where available; and under Section 29-3-11 NMSA 1978 the department is the central repository for crime incident data, running the state's Uniform Crime Reporting system since January 1, 2008 and publishing the annual New Mexico Uniform Crime Report from the monthly summaries of city, county, state and tribal agencies, with the caution that the figures should not be used to rank agencies.
Expungement since 2020
Effective January 1, 2020, the Criminal Records Expungement Act, Sections 29-3A-1 through 29-3A-7 NMSA 1978, allows a qualifying individual to petition a court for expungement of a number of criminal and related public records, and the department's rule 10.2.2 NMAC, Expungement of Arrest Records and Related Public Records, took effect with it; the department's expungements page sends petitioners to the New Mexico Courts for the suggested forms.
Reading a New Mexico result
A New Mexico result is the adult arrest record the repository holds on the person who signed the release, drawn from fingerprint cards the arresting agencies sent in, so an arrest never printed or never submitted is absent and the department says so about completeness. It reaches an employer only as the applicant's named agent within the 120 days the release lives, or through NMAPS when a statute requires fingerprints, and a record a court has expunged under the 2020 Act leaves it.
Questions about background checks in New Mexico
Related New Mexico records
The DPS record is one of the New Mexico records this site covers: the New Mexico court records guide explains the Judiciary's own case lookup, the arrest records guide covers what a booking makes public and the expungement act, the sex offender registry guide covers the DPS registry, and the New Mexico county pages list each sheriff and district court clerk.