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 24, 2026 and October 4, 2026.
Grant County, New Mexico, has about 28,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Grant County Sheriff's Office, four city agencies and one campus agency. 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 Grant 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: Grant County public records, New Mexico arrest records, New Mexico inmate search and New Mexico criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Grant County
The Grant County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Grant County. It reported 491 arrests for 2019, its latest complete year.
Arrests inside four of the county's cities are reported to the FBI by an agency of the city's own, listed here with the Census population and what each reported:
- Silver City, 9,399 residents.
- Bayard, 2,070 residents: 107 arrests reported for 2025.
- Santa Clara, 1,613 residents: 11 arrests reported for 2025.
- Hurley, 1,232 residents: 18 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 Grant County: Western New Mexico University (campus police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Grant 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.
- Bayard: 107 for 2025, 78 for 2024, 54 for 2023, 51 for 2022, 40 for 2021 and 36 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
- Hurley: 18 for 2025, 0 for 2024, 0 for 2021 and 1 for 2019; 2020, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
- Santa Clara: 11 for 2025, 21 for 2024, 45 for 2023, 41 for 2022, 46 for 2021 and 51 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
- Grant County Sheriff's Office: 491 for 2019.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 136 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 136 in 2025 against 99 in 2024, up 37 percent.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Grant County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Grant 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 80 people, down from about 84 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 95 beds, and it ran at 88 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 Grant County Sheriff's Office at grantcountynm.gov/166/Corrections (page title: Corrections | Grant County, NM), 320 South Ridge Road Silver City, NM 88061, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 4, 2026.
A person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the New Mexico Corrections Department, whose inmate locator is at cd.nm.gov.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Grant County
An arrest in Grant County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: 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 6thda.com/meet-the-d-a-s-office, phone (575) 388-1941).
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 Grant 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 Grant County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Silver City, Bayard, Santa Clara or Hurley: 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 Western New Mexico University: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, (575) 388-1941, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at grantcountynm.nextrequest.com (page title: Inspection of Public RecordsNextRequest | Modern FOIA & Public Records Request Software).
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Department of Public Safety.
Cities in Grant County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the four cities in Grant County: Silver City, Bayard, Santa Clara and Hurley.
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 Grant County.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Grant County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Silver City (9,399)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Grant County each year?
Bayard reported 107 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 136 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Grant County?
Ask the Grant County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at grantcountynm.gov/166/Corrections.
Where are people arrested in Grant County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Grant County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Grant County?
The court files of criminal cases in the District Court for Grant 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 Grant County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Grant 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 grantcountynm.nextrequest.com.
Is this the official Grant 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.