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.
Rifle, Colorado, in Garfield County, has about 11,000 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 Garfield 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: Rifle public records, Garfield County arrest records, Colorado arrest records and Colorado inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Rifle
The FBI lists Rifle with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Rifle Police Department. It reported 382 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 Garfield County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 500 arrests for 2025.
How Many Arrests Rifle 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.
- Rifle: 382 for 2025, 431 for 2024, 335 for 2023, 460 for 2022, 435 for 2021 and 692 for 2020.
Rifle's 382 arrests in 2025 were down 11 percent from 431 in 2024.
Through August 2026, Rifle reported 241 arrests, against 273 in the same months of 2025.
Across Garfield County, the six agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,797 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Rifle Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Rifle 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 72 people, down from about 100 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2025 was 193 beds, and it ran at 37 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 Garfield County Sheriff's Office at garcosheriff.com/current-inmates (page title: Current Inmates | Garfield County Sheriff Colorado), phone (970) 945-0453, 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 Rifle
Whether someone was arrested in Rifle, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the Garfield County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Garfield County District Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at garfieldcountyco.gov/courts, phone 970-945-8635); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at garfieldcountyco.gov/attorney, phone 970-945-5075).
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 Rifle
The report of an arrest is released by the agency that made it; the jail and the court hold their own records of the same event, but not the report. 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 Rifle police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at rifleco.org/352/Records-Division (page title: Records Division | Rifle, CO), phone 970-945-8635, 201 East 18th Street Rifle, CO 81650, Monday - Friday 9:00am - 5:00pm, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 2026.
- An arrest by the Garfield County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (970) 945-0453.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, 970-945-5075, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Garfield County District Court, through the court records page at garfieldcountyco.gov/courts, phone 970-945-8635.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at garfieldcountyco.gov (page title: Open Records Policy | Attorney).
- Your own statewide record: a name-based or fingerprint-based request to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.
The Garfield County guide covers every agency in the county: Garfield County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Rifle each year?
Rifle reported 382 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Rifle?
Look on the custody page of the Garfield County Sheriff's Office at garcosheriff.com/current-inmates, or call (970) 945-0453. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Rifle booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Garfield County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Rifle?
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 Rifle?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Rifle police for its own arrests, the Garfield 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 garfieldcountyco.gov.
Is this the official Rifle 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.