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 on September 23, 2026.
Elbert County, Colorado, has about 29,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Elbert County Sheriff's Office and two city agencies. 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 District Attorney files charges, a case in the Elbert County District 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: Elbert County public records, Colorado arrest records, Colorado inmate search and Colorado criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Elbert County
The Elbert County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Elbert County. It reported 263 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists two cities in Elbert County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Elizabeth, 2,773 residents: 106 arrests reported for 2025.
- Simla, 583 residents: 1 arrests reported for 2021.
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.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Elbert 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.
- Elbert County Sheriff's Office: 263 for 2025, 281 for 2024, 72 for 2022, 157 for 2020 and 148 for 2019; 2021 and 2023 are missing months.
- Elizabeth: 106 for 2025, 78 for 2024, 73 for 2023, 63 for 2022 and 67 for 2020; 2021 is missing months.
- Simla: 1 for 2021, 5 for 2020 and 22 for 2019.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 369 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 369 in 2025 against 359 in 2024, up 2.8 percent.
Through July 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 165 arrests, against 220 in the same months of 2025.
Simla reported only part of 2025 (10 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Elbert County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Elbert County and kept in custody ends up, whichever agency made the arrest, though a city department may hold someone in its own cells first and a person cited and released at the scene is never booked. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and once the person is released or sentenced the record continues in the court file.
On an average day in 2025 the jail held about 20 people, down from about 24 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2025 was 36 beds, and it ran at 55 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 Elbert County Sheriff's Office at elbertcounty-co.gov/181/Sheriffs-Office (page title: Sheriff's Office | Elbert County, CO), phone 303-805-6111, 751 Ute Avenue Kiowa, CO 80117, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
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 Elbert County
For Elbert County the place to look is the case index of the Elbert County District Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at coloradojudicial.gov/courts/trial-courts/elbert-county, phone 720-437-6114).
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 Elbert 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 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 Elbert County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 303-805-6111.
- An arrest in Elizabeth or Simla: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Elbert County District Court, through the court records page at coloradojudicial.gov, phone 720-437-6114.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at elbertcounty-co.gov (page title: Open Records Request (CORA) | Elbert County, CO).
- Your own statewide record: a name-based or fingerprint-based request to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.
Cities in Elbert County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for two of the three cities in Elbert County: Elizabeth and Simla. Kiowa has no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Elbert County District Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Elbert County each year?
The Elbert County Sheriff's Office reported 263 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 369 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Elbert County?
Ask the Elbert County Sheriff's Office at 303-805-6111; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at elbertcounty-co.gov/181/Sheriffs-Office.
Where are people arrested in Elbert County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Elbert County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Elbert 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.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Elbert County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Elbert County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. 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 elbertcounty-co.gov.
Is this the official Elbert 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.