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.
Ouray County, Colorado, has about 5,200 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Ouray 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 Ouray 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: Ouray County public records, Colorado arrest records, Colorado inmate search and Colorado criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Ouray County
The Ouray County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Ouray County. It reported 49 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists two cities in Ouray County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Ridgway, 1,281 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2025.
- Ouray, 912 residents: 13 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 Ouray 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.
- Ouray County Sheriff's Office: 49 for 2025, 43 for 2024, 41 for 2023, 41 for 2022, 45 for 2021 and 31 for 2020.
- Ouray: 13 for 2025 and 21 for 2024.
- Ridgway: 0 for 2025 and 2 for 2020; 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 are missing months.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 62 arrests that year. The two of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 62 in 2025 against 64 in 2024, down 3.1 percent.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Ouray County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Ouray 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 2024 the jail held about 7 people, down from about 10 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2024 was 16 beds, and it ran at 40 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 Ouray County Sheriff's Office at ouraycountyco.gov/152/Sheriff (page title: Sheriff | Ouray County, CO), phone 970-325-7272, Monday - Thursday 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m., which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 30, 2026.
A person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the Colorado Department of Corrections, whose inmate locator is at cdoc.colorado.gov.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Ouray County
An arrest in Ouray County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Ouray 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/ouray-county); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at ouraycountyco.gov/238/Attorney, phone 970-325-7961).
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 Ouray 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 Ouray County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 970-325-7272.
- An arrest in Ridgway or Ouray: 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, 970-325-7961, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Ouray 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 ouraycountyco.gov/428/CORA-Requests (page title: CORA Requests | Ouray County, CO).
- Your own statewide record: a name-based or fingerprint-based request to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.
Cities in Ouray County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the two cities in Ouray County: Ridgway and Ouray.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Ouray County District Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Ouray County each year?
The Ouray County Sheriff's Office reported 49 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 62 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Ouray County?
Ask the Ouray County Sheriff's Office at 970-325-7272; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at ouraycountyco.gov/152/Sheriff.
Where are people arrested in Ouray County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Ouray County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Ouray 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 Ouray County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Ouray 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 ouraycountyco.gov/428/CORA-Requests.
Is this the official Ouray 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.