Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones the agency reported to the FBI, through 2025. 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 26, 2026 and October 4, 2026.
Artesia, New Mexico, in Eddy County, has about 13,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and its arrests are reported to the FBI by an agency of its own. An arrest in the city 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 District Court for Eddy County. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts the agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies and common questions.
Related guides: Artesia public records, Eddy County arrest records, New Mexico arrest records and New Mexico inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Artesia
The FBI lists Artesia with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Artesia Police Department. It reported 258 arrests for 2025. A city is listed separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
Outside the city, the Eddy County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 834 arrests for 2022.
How Many Arrests Artesia Reports
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.
- Artesia: 258 for 2025, 245 for 2024, 236 for 2023, 198 for 2022, 146 for 2021 and 228 for 2020.
Artesia's 258 arrests in 2025 were up 5.3 percent from 245 in 2024.
Through July 2026, Artesia reported 174 arrests, against 114 in the same months of 2025.
Across Eddy County, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2022 on file reported 1,676 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Artesia Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Artesia 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 2023 the jail held about 200 people, down from about 240 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 401 beds, and it ran at 50 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
A sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the New Mexico Corrections Department lists its inmates at cd.nm.gov.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Artesia
Whether someone was arrested in Artesia, and what came of it, shows up in two places: New Mexico Courts Case Lookup, the New Mexico Judiciary's free statewide case search, which shows whether charges were filed; the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at governmentcounty.org/company-eddy-county-district-attorney-in-carls..., phone (505) 885-8822).
New Mexico does not let the public search another person's statewide criminal history. The record kept by the New Mexico Department of Public Safety goes to the person it belongs to and to employers and agencies the law authorizes; for everyone else the court's own case index is the public record of an arrest that led to a charge.
Getting a Copy of an Arrest Record in Artesia
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 Inspection of Public Records Act the agency must answer within 15 calendar days, after acknowledging the request within 3 business days, and it may charge copying at no more than $1 a page.
- An arrest by the Artesia police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at artesianm.gov/174/Records (page title: Records | Artesia, NM), phone 575-746-5045, 5045 Records Physical Address 3300 W Main Street Artesia, NM 88211, Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Eddy County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, (505) 885-8822, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Department of Public Safety.
The Eddy County guide covers every agency in the county: Eddy County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Artesia each year?
Artesia reported 258 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
Where are people arrested in Artesia booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Eddy County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Artesia?
The court files of criminal cases in the District Court for Eddy County are public and can be looked up through the court. The statewide criminal history kept by the New Mexico Department of Public Safety is not public; you can get your own. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Inspection of Public Records Act.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Artesia?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Artesia police for its own arrests, the Eddy County Sheriff's Office for the sheriff's. Under the Inspection of Public Records Act the answer is due within 15 calendar days, after acknowledging the request within 3 business days.
Is this the official Artesia website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official city, county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.