Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones the agency reported to the FBI, through 2025. 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 26, 2026.
Cortez, Colorado, in Montezuma County, has about 9,200 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and its arrests are reported to the FBI by an agency of its own. An arrest in the city leaves the same records whoever makes it: the arresting agency's report, the record of anyone held at the county jail, and, if the District Attorney files charges, a case in the Montezuma County District Court. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts the agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies and common questions.
Related guides: Cortez public records, Montezuma County arrest records, Colorado arrest records and Colorado inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Cortez
The FBI lists Cortez with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Cortez Police Department. It reported 1,561 arrests for 2025. A city is listed separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
Outside the city, the Montezuma County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 273 arrests for 2025.
How Many Arrests Cortez Reports
The FBI publishes every agency's monthly arrest counts 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.
- Cortez: 1,561 for 2025, 1,417 for 2024, 1,362 for 2023, 1,154 for 2022, 978 for 2021 and 956 for 2020.
Cortez's 1,561 arrests in 2025 were up 10 percent from 1,417 in 2024.
Through September 2026, Cortez reported 1,131 arrests, against 1,222 in the same months of 2025.
Across Montezuma County, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,848 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Cortez Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Cortez 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 2025 the jail held about 70 people, down from about 110 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2025 was 104 beds, and it ran at 67 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 Montezuma County Sheriff's Office at montezumacounty.gov/sheriffoffice (page title: Sheriff's Office <), phone (970) 564-4016, 730 East Driscoll Street, Cortez, CO 81321, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
A person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the Colorado Department of Corrections, whose inmate locator is at cdoc.colorado.gov.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Cortez
For Cortez the place to look is the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at montezumacounty.gov/services/district-attorney, phone (970) 565-1147).
Colorado is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: the state runs an online name-based criminal history check open to the public, through the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. That record shows what agencies reported to the state, which is wider than one county's court index but can lag it.
Getting a Copy of an Arrest Record in Cortez
An arrest report belongs to the agency whose officer wrote it, and that agency releases it, not the court or the jail. Under the Colorado Open Records Act the agency must answer within 3 working days, extendable to 7 when there are extenuating circumstances, and it may charge research and retrieval time after the first hour, plus copying.
- An arrest by the Cortez police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at cortezco.gov/210/Records-Services (page title: Records Services | Cortez, CO), phone 970-565-8441, 608 N. Park Street, Cortez, CO 81321, Monday through Thursday 7:00am-5:00pm, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Montezuma County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (970) 564-4016.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, (970) 565-1147, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at montezumacountysheriffco.nextrequest.com (page title: Criminal Justice RecordsNextRequest | Modern FOIA & Public Records Request Software).
- Your own statewide record: a name-based or fingerprint-based request to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.
The Montezuma County guide covers every agency in the county: Montezuma County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Cortez each year?
Cortez reported 1,561 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Cortez?
Ask the Montezuma County Sheriff's Office at (970) 564-4016; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at montezumacounty.gov/sheriffoffice.
Where are people arrested in Cortez booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Montezuma County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Cortez?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation: the state runs an online name-based criminal history check open to the public. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Colorado Open Records Act.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Cortez?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Cortez police for its own arrests, the Montezuma County Sheriff's Office for the sheriff's. Under the Colorado Open Records Act the answer is due within 3 working days, extendable to 7 when there are extenuating circumstances; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at montezumacountysheriffco.nextrequest.com.
Is this the official Cortez website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official city, county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.