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.
Lincoln County, Colorado, has about 5,600 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Lincoln 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 Lincoln 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: Lincoln County public records, Colorado arrest records, Colorado inmate search and Colorado criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Lincoln County
The Lincoln County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Lincoln County. It reported 99 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside two of the county's cities are reported to the FBI by an agency of the city's own, listed here with the Census population and what each reported:
- Limon, 1,992 residents: 79 arrests reported for 2025.
- Hugo, 771 residents: 20 arrests reported for 2024.
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 Lincoln 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.
- Lincoln County Sheriff's Office: 99 for 2025, 51 for 2022, 59 for 2021 and 26 for 2020; 2023 and 2024 are missing months.
- Limon: 79 for 2025, 72 for 2024, 53 for 2022, 97 for 2021, 93 for 2020 and 98 for 2019; 2023 is missing months.
- Hugo: 20 for 2024, 32 for 2023, 30 for 2022, 23 for 2021 and 23 for 2020.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 178 arrests that year. The one of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 79 in 2025 against 72 in 2024, up 9.7 percent.
Through March 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 33 arrests, against 43 in the same months of 2025.
Hugo reported only part of 2025 (6 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Lincoln County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Lincoln 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 36 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2025 was 44 beds, and it ran at 47 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 Lincoln County Sheriff's Office at p2c.lincolnsheriff.org/jailinmates.aspx (page title: Lincoln County Sheriffs Office P2C), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 27, 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 Lincoln County
For Lincoln County the place to look is the case index of the Lincoln County District Court, kept by the clerk of the combined court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date.
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at coloradojudicial.gov/location/lincoln-county-courthouse (page title: Lincoln County Courthouse | Colorado Judicial Branch), phone (719) 743-2455, belongs to a lower court, not to the Lincoln County District Court.
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 Lincoln 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 Lincoln County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Limon or Hugo: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- The court file of a case that was filed: in the Lincoln County District Court it is kept by the clerk of the combined court. The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at coloradojudicial.gov, phone (719) 743-2455, is a lower court's.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at coloradojudicial.gov/node/9189 (page title: Record/Document Request Form | Lincoln County | Colorado Judicial Branch).
- Your own statewide record: a name-based or fingerprint-based request to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.
Cities in Lincoln County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for two of the four cities in Lincoln County: Limon and Hugo. Arriba and Genoa 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 Lincoln County District Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Lincoln County each year?
The Lincoln County Sheriff's Office reported 99 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 178 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Lincoln County?
Ask the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at p2c.lincolnsheriff.org/jailinmates.aspx.
Where are people arrested in Lincoln County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Lincoln 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 Lincoln County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Lincoln 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 coloradojudicial.gov/node/9189.
Is this the official Lincoln 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.