Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest and crime counts are the ones each agency reported to the FBI, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026. Every office link was opened and checked against the office's own site between September 23, 2026 and October 2, 2026.
Chaffee County, Colorado, has about 21,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). In Colorado the public criminal record is the court file, kept by the clerk of the combined court; the statewide criminal history kept by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation is open to anyone who asks. This guide says where each record of a criminal case from Chaffee County is kept and how it is seen.
This guide covers the court file, the statewide record, local arrest records, the crimes behind the records, the prosecutor, sex offender registry, records requests and common questions.
Related guides: Chaffee County public records, Chaffee County arrest records, Chaffee County warrants, Chaffee County inmate search, Chaffee County court records, Colorado arrest records and Colorado inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Chaffee County District Court
A criminal case from Chaffee County is filed in the Chaffee County District Court or the County Court, which takes misdemeanors, traffic cases and civil cases up to $25,000, and the court file, kept by the clerk of the combined court, is the record of it that the public may see.
For Chaffee County, SearchSystems opened and checked the court records page for the county at coloradojudicial.gov/courts/trial-courts/chaffee-county (page title: Chaffee County | Colorado Judicial Branch), phone 719-539-2561, 142 Crestone Avenue P.O. Box 279 Salida, CO 81201, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
Colorado has no single public index of every trial court case; each court's records are looked up through that court.
The Colorado Criminal History and Your Own Copy
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. The result is the repository record, what agencies reported to the state, which is wider than one county's court index but can lag it.
To see your own record, the route is a name-based or fingerprint-based request to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. The state page SearchSystems verified for it is at cbi.colorado.gov/records-background-checks/internet-criminal-histor....
Arrest Records Kept Locally in Chaffee County
The Chaffee County Sheriff's Office and the agencies that report for Salida and Buena Vista keep the arrest records in Chaffee County: the report and the booking record of each arrest stay with the agency that made it, separate from the court file and from the state repository.
Together, the three agencies in Chaffee County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 532 arrests to the FBI that year; how each case ended is in the court file, not in the arresting agency's.
The agencies and their counts, year by year, are in Chaffee County arrest records.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Chaffee County in 2025
The three agencies in Chaffee County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 24 violent and 74 property crimes to the FBI that year; the same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 98 crimes in 2025 against 131 in 2024. Each reported crime is a report on file with the agency that took it, and each arrest that follows is the start of a criminal record.
The full crime section, agency by agency, is on the Chaffee County public records guide.
The District Attorney for Chaffee County
The District Attorney decides which arrests in Chaffee County become charges and files them in the Chaffee County District Court or the County Court; the office answers questions about pending prosecutions, and the case files themselves are court records.
The office's page SearchSystems verified is at chaffeecounty.org/departments/attorney/index.php (page title: Welcome to Chaffee County, CO), phone 719-539-2218, 2218 Email 104 Crestone Ave. P.O. Box 699 Salida, CO 81201, MON 7:30 am - 3:30 pm, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 30, 2026.
The Sex Offender Registry for Chaffee County
Registered sex offenders living in Chaffee County are listed on the Colorado Sex Offender Registry, run by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation at apps.colorado.gov/apps/dps/sor. Only sexually violent predators, multiple offenders and adults convicted of felony sex offenses appear on the statewide site; local police and sheriffs hold the full list.
Registration itself is done in person with the local agency where the registrant lives: the sheriff's office, or the city police in a city with its own department.
Asking an Agency in Chaffee County for a Record
An arrest report, a booking record or a local criminal history letter comes from the agency that holds it, not from the court.
Under the Colorado Open Records Act a county office must answer a request 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. The county records request page SearchSystems verified is at chaffeecountyco.nextrequest.com (page title: Chaffee County Public RecordsNextRequest | Modern FOIA & Public Records Request Software).
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Chaffee County?
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.
Can I search Chaffee County criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at coloradojudicial.gov (page title: Chaffee County | Colorado Judicial Branch).
How do I get my own Colorado criminal history?
Through a name-based or fingerprint-based request to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.
Who prosecutes crimes in Chaffee County?
The District Attorney, reached at 719-539-2218, which files its cases in the Chaffee County District Court or the County Court.
Is this the official Chaffee 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.