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.
Mesa County, Colorado, has about 161,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Mesa County Sheriff's Office and four 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 Mesa 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: Mesa County public records, Colorado arrest records, Colorado inmate search and Colorado criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Mesa County
The Mesa County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Mesa County. It reported 2,472 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside four 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:
- Grand Junction, 70,554 residents: 4,755 arrests reported for 2025.
- Fruita, 13,912 residents: 207 arrests reported for 2025.
- Palisade, 2,600 residents: 89 arrests reported for 2025.
- De Beque, 478 residents: 1,185 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 Mesa 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.
- Grand Junction: 4,755 for 2025, 4,672 for 2024, 4,096 for 2023, 4,108 for 2022, 3,834 for 2021 and 3,639 for 2020.
- Mesa County Sheriff's Office: 2,472 for 2025, 2,175 for 2024, 2,273 for 2023, 2,455 for 2022, 1,871 for 2021 and 1,603 for 2020.
- De Beque: 1,185 for 2025, 1,186 for 2024, 1,183 for 2023, 1,186 for 2022, 1,187 for 2021 and 1,187 for 2020.
- Fruita: 207 for 2025, 204 for 2024, 199 for 2023, 287 for 2022, 272 for 2021 and 184 for 2020.
- Palisade: 89 for 2025, 148 for 2024, 116 for 2023, 79 for 2021, 83 for 2020 and 124 for 2019; 2022 is missing months.
Together, the five agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 8,708 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 8,708 in 2025 against 8,385 in 2024, up 3.9 percent.
Through September 2026, the four agencies with every month so far on file reported 5,734 arrests, against 6,472 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Mesa County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Mesa 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 440 people, down from about 530 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2025 was 533 beds, and it ran at 83 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 Mesa County Sheriff's Office at mesacounty.us/departments-and-services/sheriff/services/blotter-rep... (page title: Blotter Reports | Mesa County), 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 Mesa County
Whether someone was arrested in Mesa County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Mesa 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/mesa-county, phone 970-257-3640); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at mesacounty.us/departments-and-services/district-attorney/about-us, phone 970-257-3640).
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 Mesa 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 Mesa County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Grand Junction, Fruita, Palisade or De Beque: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, 970-257-3640, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Mesa County District Court, through the court records page at coloradojudicial.gov, phone 970-257-3640.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at mesacounty.us (page title: Sheriff's Office Open Records Requests | Mesa County).
- Your own statewide record: a name-based or fingerprint-based request to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.
Cities in Mesa County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for four of the five cities in Mesa County: Grand Junction, Fruita, Palisade and De Beque. Collbran 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 Mesa County District Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Mesa County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Grand Junction (70,554)
- Fruita (13,912)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Mesa County each year?
Grand Junction reported 4,755 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the five agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 8,708 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Mesa County?
Ask the Mesa County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at mesacounty.us.
Where are people arrested in Mesa County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Mesa County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Mesa 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 Mesa County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Mesa 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 mesacounty.us.
Is this the official Mesa 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.