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 October 3, 2026.
Lake County, Colorado, has about 7,400 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Lake 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 Lake 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: Lake County public records, Colorado arrest records, Colorado inmate search and Colorado criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Lake County
The Lake County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Lake County. It reported 186 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists one city in Lake County with a reporting agency of its own:
- Leadville, 2,624 residents: 33 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 Lake County
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.
- Lake County Sheriff's Office: 186 for 2025, 125 for 2024, 186 for 2023 and 58 for 2021; 2022 is missing months.
- Leadville: 33 for 2025, 32 for 2024, 58 for 2023, 44 for 2022, 67 for 2021 and 103 for 2020.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 219 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 219 in 2025 against 157 in 2024, up 39 percent.
Through June 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 156 arrests, against 74 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Lake County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Lake 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 2019 the jail held about 8 people. Its rated capacity in 2018, the last year with a capacity figure, was 2 beds, and it ran at 659 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 Lake County Sheriff's Office at lakecountyco.gov/539/Detentions (page title: Detentions | Lake County, CO), phone 719-486-4185, 505 Harrison Ave Leadville, CO 80461, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 3, 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 Lake County
Whether someone was arrested in Lake County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Lake 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/lake-county, phone 970-328-7036); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at lakecountyco.gov/BusinessDirectoryII.aspx?BID=10, phone 719-486-1186).
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 Lake 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 Lake County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 719-486-4185.
- An arrest in Leadville: 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, 719-486-1186, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Lake County District Court, through the court records page at coloradojudicial.gov, phone 970-328-7036.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at lakecountyco.gov/606/Public-Records-Request (page title: Public Records Request | Lake County, CO).
- Your own statewide record: a name-based or fingerprint-based request to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.
Cities in Lake County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for Leadville, the one city in Lake County.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Lake County District Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Lake County each year?
The Lake County Sheriff's Office reported 186 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 219 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Lake County?
Ask the Lake County Sheriff's Office at 719-486-4185; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at lakecountyco.gov/539/Detentions.
Where are people arrested in Lake County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Lake County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Lake 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 Lake County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Lake 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 lakecountyco.gov/606/Public-Records-Request.
Is this the official Lake 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.