Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest and crime counts are the ones each agency reported to the FBI, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026. Every office link was opened and checked against the office's own site on September 24, 2026.
Chaves County, New Mexico, has about 64,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). In New Mexico the public criminal record is the court file, kept by the Clerk of the District Court; the statewide criminal history kept by the New Mexico Department of Public Safety is released only to its subject and to the employers and agencies the law allows. This guide says where each record of a criminal case from Chaves County is kept and how it is seen.
This guide covers the court file, the statewide record, local arrest records, the crimes behind the records, sex offender registry, records requests and common questions.
Related guides: Chaves County public records, Chaves County arrest records, Chaves County warrants, Chaves County court records, Chaves County police reports, New Mexico arrest records and New Mexico inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the District Court for Chaves County
A criminal case from Chaves County is filed in the District Court for Chaves County or the Magistrate Court, which takes misdemeanors, traffic cases and civil cases up to $10,000; Bernalillo County has the Metropolitan Court instead, and the court file, kept by the Clerk of the District Court, is the record of it that the public may see.
For Chaves County, SearchSystems opened and checked the court records page for the county at chavescounty.gov/your-county/departments/clerk-s-office/public-docu... (page title: Public Document Search | Chaves County, NM), phone 575-624-6600, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
Statewide, New Mexico Courts Case Lookup is the New Mexico Judiciary's free statewide case search.
The New Mexico Criminal History and Your Own Copy
The statewide criminal history kept by the New Mexico Department of Public Safety is closed to the public in New Mexico: it is released to its subject and to authorized employers and licensing agencies, and a member of the public uses the court's own case index instead.
To see your own record, the route is a fingerprint-based request to the Department of Public Safety. The state page SearchSystems verified for it is at dps.nm.gov/law-enforcement-records-bureau.
Arrest Records Kept Locally in Chaves County
The Chaves County Sheriff's Office and the agencies that report for Roswell, Dexter, Hagerman and Lake Arthur keep the arrest records in Chaves County: the report and the booking record of each arrest stay with the agency that made it, separate from the court file and from the state repository.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Chaves County: New Mexico Military Institute (campus police); it keeps the records of its own arrests.
Together, the four agencies in Chaves County with all twelve months of 2022 on file reported 3,657 arrests to the FBI that year; how each case ended is in the court file, not in the arresting agency's.
The agencies and their counts, year by year, are in Chaves County arrest records.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Chaves County in 2022
The four agencies in Chaves County with all twelve months of 2022 on file reported 482 violent and 1,677 property crimes to the FBI that year. Each reported crime is a report on file with the agency that took it, and each arrest that follows is the start of a criminal record.
The full crime section, agency by agency, is on the Chaves County public records guide.
The Sex Offender Registry for Chaves County
Registered sex offenders living in Chaves County are listed on the New Mexico Sex Offender Registry, run by the New Mexico Department of Public Safety at offenderwatch.com/network/new-mexico. The registry is public and can be searched online; the county sheriff registers them.
Registration itself is done in person with the local agency where the registrant lives: the sheriff's office, or the city police in a city with its own department.
Asking an Agency in Chaves County for a Record
An arrest report, a booking record or a local criminal history letter comes from the agency that holds it, not from the court.
Under the Inspection of Public Records Act a county office must answer a request within 15 calendar days, after acknowledging the request within 3 business days, and it may charge copying at no more than $1 a page. The county records request page SearchSystems verified is at chavescounty.gov/your-county/departments/human-resources-department... (page title: Request to Inspect Public Records | Chaves County, NM).
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Chaves County?
The court files of criminal cases in the District Court for Chaves 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.
Can I search Chaves County criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at chavescounty.gov (page title: Public Document Search | Chaves County, NM). Statewide, New Mexico Courts Case Lookup is the New Mexico Judiciary's free statewide case search.
How do I get my own New Mexico criminal history?
Through a fingerprint-based request to the Department of Public Safety.
Is this the official Chaves 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.