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 between September 23, 2026 and September 30, 2026.
Gilpin County, Colorado, has about 6,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Gilpin County Sheriff's Office and one city agency. 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 Gilpin 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: Gilpin County public records, Colorado arrest records, Colorado inmate search and Colorado criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Gilpin County
The Gilpin County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Gilpin County. It reported 156 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists one city in Gilpin County with a reporting agency of its own:
- Black Hawk, 120 residents: 507 arrests reported for 2025.
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 Gilpin 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.
- Black Hawk: 507 for 2025, 501 for 2024, 462 for 2023, 504 for 2022, 330 for 2021 and 334 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
- Gilpin County Sheriff's Office: 156 for 2025, 137 for 2024, 236 for 2023, 219 for 2022, 196 for 2021 and 195 for 2020.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 663 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 663 in 2025 against 638 in 2024, up 3.9 percent.
Through August 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 395 arrests, against 458 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Gilpin County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Gilpin County 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 27 people, down from about 49 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2025 was 96 beds, and it ran at 28 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 Gilpin County Sheriff's Office at gilpincounty.colorado.gov/elected-officials/sheriffs-page (page title: Sheriff's Page | Gilpin County), phone (303) 582-5500, 2960 Dory Hill Rd, Suite 300 Black Hawk, CO 80422, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 30, 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 Gilpin County
Whether someone was arrested in Gilpin County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Gilpin 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/gilpin-county, phone 720-772-2752); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at jeffco.us/DocumentCenter/View/29484/First-Judicial-District-Attorneys).
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 Gilpin County
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 Gilpin County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (303) 582-5500.
- An arrest in Black Hawk: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Gilpin County District Court, through the court records page at coloradojudicial.gov, phone 720-772-2752.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at gilpincounty.colorado.gov (page title: Colorado Open Records Act Requests | Gilpin County).
- Your own statewide record: a name-based or fingerprint-based request to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.
Cities in Gilpin County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the two cities in Gilpin County: Black Hawk. Central 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 Gilpin County District Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Gilpin County each year?
Black Hawk reported 507 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 663 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Gilpin County?
Ask the Gilpin County Sheriff's Office at (303) 582-5500; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at gilpincounty.colorado.gov.
Where are people arrested in Gilpin County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Gilpin County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Gilpin 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 Gilpin County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Gilpin 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 gilpincounty.colorado.gov.
Is this the official Gilpin 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.