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 25, 2026.
Golden, Colorado, in Jefferson County, has about 20,000 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 Jefferson 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: Golden public records, Jefferson County arrest records, Colorado arrest records and Colorado inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Golden
The FBI lists Golden with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Golden Police Department. It reported 605 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 Jefferson County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 1,714 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Jefferson County: the Division of Gaming Criminal Enforcement and Investigations Section, Golden (state agency); Colorado School of Mines and Red Rocks Community College (campus police).
How Many Arrests Golden Reports
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.
- Golden: 605 for 2025, 612 for 2024, 654 for 2023, 679 for 2022, 652 for 2021 and 456 for 2020.
Golden's 605 arrests in 2025 were down 1.1 percent from 612 in 2024.
Through August 2026, Golden reported 425 arrests, against 406 in the same months of 2025.
Across Jefferson County, the eight agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 17,570 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Golden Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Golden 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 810 people, down from about 1,220 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2025 was 1,638 beds, and it ran at 50 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office at jeffcosheriffco.gov/jail/inmate-lookup (page title: Inmate Lookup | Jeffco Sheriff), phone (303) 271-5444, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
That page is the place to look for someone who was booked recently; a person cited and released at the scene, or held only a few hours by a city department, will not be on it.
A sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the Colorado Department of Corrections lists its inmates at cdoc.colorado.gov.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Golden
Whether someone was arrested in Golden, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Jefferson County District Court, kept by the clerk of the combined court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date; the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at jeffco.us/619/District-Attorneys-Office, phone 303-271-6800).
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at coloradojudicial.gov/courts/trial-courts/jefferson-county/traffic-a... (page title: Traffic and Criminal Cases | Colorado Judicial Branch), belongs to a lower court, not to the Jefferson County District Court.
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 Golden
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 Golden police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at cityofgolden.gov/police/services/record_request.php (page title: Police Record Request), phone (303) 384-8035, Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 2026.
- An arrest by the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (303) 271-5444.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, 303-271-6800, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: in the Jefferson County District Court it is kept by the clerk of the combined court. The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at coloradojudicial.gov, is a lower court's.
- Your own statewide record: a name-based or fingerprint-based request to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.
The Jefferson County guide covers every agency in the county: Jefferson County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Golden each year?
Golden reported 605 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Golden?
Look on the custody page of the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office at jeffcosheriffco.gov/jail/inmate-lookup, or call (303) 271-5444. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Golden booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Golden?
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 Golden?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Golden police for its own arrests, the Jefferson 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.
Is this the official Golden 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.