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 October 4, 2026.
Eddy County, New Mexico, has about 61,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Eddy 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 District Court for Eddy County. 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: Eddy County public records, New Mexico arrest records, New Mexico inmate search and New Mexico criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Eddy County
The Eddy County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Eddy County. It reported 834 arrests for 2022, its latest complete year.
The FBI lists four cities in Eddy County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Carlsbad, 31,999 residents: 863 arrests reported for 2025.
- Artesia, 12,550 residents: 258 arrests reported for 2025.
- Loving, 1,359 residents.
- Hope, 113 residents: 6 arrests reported for 2022.
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 Eddy 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.
- Eddy County Sheriff's Office: 834 for 2022 and 741 for 2021.
- Carlsbad: 863 for 2025, 888 for 2024, 696 for 2023 and 638 for 2022.
- Artesia: 258 for 2025, 245 for 2024, 236 for 2023, 198 for 2022, 146 for 2021 and 228 for 2020.
- Hope: 6 for 2022, 0 for 2021 and 10 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
Together, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2022 on file reported 1,676 arrests that year. The three of them with both 2022 and 2021 complete reported 1,038 in 2022 against 887 in 2021, up 17 percent.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Eddy County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Eddy 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 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 Eddy County
Whether someone was arrested in Eddy County, 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 Eddy 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 Eddy County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Carlsbad, Artesia, Loving or Hope: 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, (505) 885-8822, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Department of Public Safety.
Cities in Eddy County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the four cities in Eddy County: Carlsbad, Artesia, Loving and Hope.
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 Eddy County.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Eddy County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Artesia (12,550)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Eddy County each year?
The Eddy County Sheriff's Office reported 834 arrests to the FBI for 2022, and the four agencies with every month of 2022 on file reported 1,676 between them.
Where are people arrested in Eddy County 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 Eddy County?
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 Eddy County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Eddy 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.
Is this the official Eddy 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.