Doña Ana County Arrest Records: Who Makes Arrests, Where People Are Booked and How to Get the Report

Who Makes Arrests in Doña Ana County

The Dona Ana County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Doña Ana County. It reported 674 arrests for 2025.

The FBI lists five cities in Doña Ana County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:

• Las Cruces, 116,998 residents: 2,631 arrests reported for 2024.
• Sunland Park, 18,185 residents: 196 arrests reported for 2025.
• Anthony, 8,910 residents: 102 arrests reported for 2024.
• Mesilla, 1,828 residents: 27 arrests reported for 2022.
• Hatch, 1,590 residents: 58 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.

The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Doña Ana County: New Mexico State University (campus police).

How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Doña Ana 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.

• Dona Ana County Sheriff's Office: 674 for 2025, 818 for 2024, 689 for 2023, 768 for 2022 and 596 for 2020; 2021 is missing months.
• Sunland Park: 196 for 2025, 194 for 2024, 124 for 2023, 134 for 2022, 100 for 2020 and 188 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
• Hatch: 58 for 2025, 58 for 2024 and 156 for 2019; 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
• Las Cruces: 2,631 for 2024, 2,365 for 2023, 2,143 for 2022, 2,074 for 2021, 1,722 for 2020 and 1,933 for 2019.
• Anthony: 102 for 2024, 120 for 2022 and 123 for 2021; 2023 is missing months.
• Mesilla: 27 for 2022 and 2 for 2019; 2020 and 2021 are missing months.

Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 928 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 928 in 2025 against 1,070 in 2024, down 13 percent.

Through August 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 564 arrests, against 629 in the same months of 2025.

Las Cruces and Anthony reported only part of 2025 (11 months and 7 months) and are left out of the totals.

Booking: Where People Arrested in Doña Ana County Are Held

A person kept in custody after an arrest in Doña Ana County is held at the county jail, whichever agency made the arrest, apart from the short stay some city departments' own holding cells allow; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked at all. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and the court file takes over from there.

On an average day in 2023 the jail held about 610 people, down from about 700 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 846 beds, and it ran at 72 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 Dona Ana County Sheriff's Office at apps.donaanacounty.org/www/inmates (page title: DAC JCMS Inmates Online | Doña Ana County), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 28, 2026.

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 Doña Ana County

An arrest in Doña Ana County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the District Court for Doña Ana County, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at donaana.nm.publicsearch.us); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at donaanacountyda.com/contact-us, phone (575) 524-6370).

Statewide, New Mexico Courts Case Lookup is the New Mexico Judiciary's free statewide case search.

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 Doña Ana 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 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 Dona Ana County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
• An arrest in Las Cruces, Sunland Park, Anthony, Mesilla or Hatch: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
• An arrest by New Mexico State University: the records office of the agency involved.
• A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, (575) 524-6370, handles discovery for pending cases.
• The court file of a case that was filed: the District Court for Doña Ana County, through the court records page at donaana.nm.publicsearch.us.
• Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at donaana.gov (page title: Dona Ana County, NM).
• Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Department of Public Safety.

Cities in Doña Ana County: Who Reports the Arrests

The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the five cities in Doña Ana County: Las Cruces, Sunland Park, Anthony, Mesilla and Hatch.

Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the District Court for Doña Ana County.

SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Doña Ana County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:

• Las Cruces (116,998)
• Sunland Park (18,185)
• Anthony (8,910)

Frequently Asked Questions

How many arrests are made in Doña Ana County each year?

The Dona Ana County Sheriff's Office reported 674 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 928 between them.

How do I find out if someone is in jail in Doña Ana County?

Ask the Dona Ana County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at apps.donaanacounty.org/www/inmates.

Where are people arrested in Doña Ana County booked?

Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Dona Ana County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.

Are arrest records public in Doña Ana County?

The court files of criminal cases in the District Court for Doña Ana 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 Doña Ana County?

From the agency that made the arrest: the Dona Ana County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Inspection of Public Records Act the answer is due within 15 calendar days, after acknowledging the request within 3 business days; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at donaana.gov.

Is this the official Doña Ana 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.