Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones each agency reported to the FBI, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026. The jail figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data. Every office link was opened and checked against the office's own site between September 23, 2026 and September 28, 2026.
Yuma County, Arizona, has about 220,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Yuma County Sheriff's Office, four city agencies and one campus agency. An arrest leaves the same records whoever makes it: the arresting agency's report, the record of anyone held at the county jail, and, if the County Attorney files charges, a case in the Yuma County Superior Court. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts each agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies, cities and common questions.
Related guides: Yuma County public records, Arizona arrest records, Arizona inmate search and Arizona criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Yuma County
The Yuma County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Yuma County. It reported 838 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists four cities in Yuma County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Yuma, 103,559 residents: 2,636 arrests reported for 2025.
- San Luis, 40,064 residents: 370 arrests reported for 2025.
- Somerton, 14,902 residents: 99 arrests reported for 2025.
- Wellton, 2,648 residents: 39 arrests reported for 2025.
A city on that list is reported separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Yuma County: Arizona Western College (campus police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Yuma County
Each agency reports its arrests to the FBI by month, and the FBI publishes them on the Crime Data Explorer. These are the full-year totals, all offenses, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026; a year with months missing or not reported is left out.
- Yuma: 2,636 for 2025, 2,350 for 2024, 2,530 for 2023, 2,409 for 2022, 2,020 for 2021 and 2,428 for 2020.
- Yuma County Sheriff's Office: 838 for 2025, 794 for 2024, 867 for 2023, 829 for 2022, 847 for 2021 and 765 for 2020.
- San Luis: 370 for 2025, 462 for 2024, 420 for 2023, 440 for 2022, 451 for 2021 and 519 for 2020.
- Somerton: 99 for 2025, 133 for 2024, 153 for 2023, 153 for 2022, 160 for 2021 and 249 for 2020.
- Wellton: 39 for 2025, 14 for 2024, 30 for 2022, 31 for 2021, 18 for 2020 and 27 for 2019; 2023 is missing months.
Together, the five agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 3,982 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 3,982 in 2025 against 3,753 in 2024, up 6.1 percent.
Through June 2026, the five agencies with every month so far on file reported 2,104 arrests, against 1,860 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Yuma County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Yuma County is held at the county jail, whichever agency made the arrest, apart from the short stay some city departments' own holding cells allow; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked at all. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and the court file takes over from there.
On an average day in 2021 the jail held about 460 people, down from about 480 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 756 beds, and it ran at 63 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the jail page of the Yuma County Sheriff's Office at azdps.gov/leosa/1886 (page title: Yuma County Sheriff's Office | Department of Public Safety), phone (928) 783-4427, 141 South 3rd Avenue Yuma, AZ 85364, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 28, 2026.
A person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, whose inmate locator is at corrections.az.gov/inmate-data-search.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Yuma County
Whether someone was arrested in Yuma County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Yuma County Superior Court, kept by the Clerk of the Superior Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date; the County Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at yumacountyaz.gov/government/county-attorney, phone (928) 817-4300).
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at yumacountyaz.gov/government/courts (page title: Welcome to Yuma County Courts | Yuma County), phone (928) 817-4083, belongs to a lower court, not to the Yuma County Superior Court.
Statewide, Public Access to Court Information is the Arizona Judicial Branch's free statewide case search; the Maricopa and Pima county courts run their own.
Arizona does not let the public search another person's statewide criminal history. The record kept by the Arizona Department of Public Safety goes to the person it belongs to and to employers and agencies the law authorizes; for everyone else the court's own case index is the public record of an arrest that led to a charge.
Getting a Copy of an Arrest Record in Yuma County
An arrest report belongs to the agency whose officer wrote it, and that agency releases it, not the court or the jail. Under the Arizona Public Records Law the agency must answer promptly, with no fixed number of days in the statute, and it may charge the cost of copies, and more for commercial requests.
- An arrest by the Yuma County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (928) 783-4427.
- An arrest in Yuma, San Luis, Somerton or Wellton: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- An arrest by Arizona Western College: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney, (928) 817-4300, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: in the Yuma County Superior Court it is kept by the Clerk of the Superior Court. The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at yumacountyaz.gov/government/courts, phone (928) 817-4083, is a lower court's.
- Your own statewide record: a Record Review Packet, fingerprint-based, from the Department of Public Safety.
Cities in Yuma County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the four cities in Yuma County: Yuma, San Luis, Somerton and Wellton.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Yuma County Superior Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Yuma County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- San Luis (40,064)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Yuma County each year?
Yuma reported 2,636 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the five agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 3,982 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Yuma County?
Ask the Yuma County Sheriff's Office at (928) 783-4427; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at azdps.gov/leosa/1886.
Where are people arrested in Yuma County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Yuma County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Yuma County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Yuma County Superior Court are public and can be looked up through the court. The statewide criminal history kept by the Arizona Department of Public Safety is not public; you can get your own. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Arizona Public Records Law.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Yuma County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Yuma County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Arizona Public Records Law the answer is due promptly, with no fixed number of days in the statute.
Is this the official Yuma County website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.