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.
Las Animas County, Colorado, has about 15,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Las Animas 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 Las Animas 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: Las Animas County public records, Colorado arrest records, Colorado inmate search and Colorado criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Las Animas County
The Las Animas County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Las Animas County. It reported 167 arrests for 2024, its latest complete year.
One city in Las Animas County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- Trinidad, 8,183 residents: 461 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 Las Animas 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.
- Trinidad: 461 for 2025, 475 for 2024, 451 for 2023, 456 for 2022, 567 for 2021 and 547 for 2020.
- Las Animas County Sheriff's Office: 167 for 2024, 181 for 2023, 293 for 2022, 240 for 2021 and 117 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2024 on file reported 642 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2024 and 2023 complete reported 642 in 2024 against 632 in 2023, up 1.6 percent.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Las Animas County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Las Animas 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 46 people, up from about 45 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2025 was 117 beds, and it ran at 39 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 Las Animas County Sheriff's Office at lasosheriff.org (page title: Las Animas County Sheriff's Office), phone 719-846-2211, 2309 E. Main Street Trinidad, CO 81082, Mondays through Fridays from 8am - 4pm., 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 Las Animas County
For Las Animas County the place to look is the case index of the Las Animas 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/las-animas-county).
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 Las Animas 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 Las Animas County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 719-846-2211.
- An arrest in Trinidad: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Las Animas County District Court, through the court records page at coloradojudicial.gov.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at lasanimascounty.colorado.gov (page title: Records Request | Las Animas County).
- Your own statewide record: a name-based or fingerprint-based request to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.
Cities in Las Animas County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the six cities in Las Animas County: Trinidad. Aguilar, Cokedale, Kim, Starkville and Branson have 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 Las Animas County District Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Las Animas County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Trinidad (8,183)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Las Animas County each year?
Trinidad reported 461 arrests to the FBI for 2025. For 2024, the latest year most of the agencies in Las Animas County sent in full, the two with every month on file reported 642 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Las Animas County?
Ask the Las Animas County Sheriff's Office at 719-846-2211; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at lasosheriff.org.
Where are people arrested in Las Animas County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Las Animas County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Las Animas 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 Las Animas County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Las Animas 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 lasanimascounty.colorado.gov.
Is this the official Las Animas 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.