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 September 24, 2026.
Lea County, New Mexico, has about 75,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Lea County Sheriff's Office and five 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 Lea 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: Lea County public records, New Mexico arrest records, New Mexico inmate search and New Mexico criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Lea County
The Lea County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Lea County. It reported 227 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists five cities in Lea County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Hobbs, 41,061 residents: 1,026 arrests reported for 2025.
- Lovington, 11,693 residents: 97 arrests reported for 2025.
- Eunice, 3,068 residents: 32 arrests reported for 2025.
- Jal, 2,192 residents: 1 arrests reported for 2024.
- Tatum, 712 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2019.
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 Lea 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.
- Hobbs: 1,026 for 2025, 2,073 for 2024, 2,018 for 2023 and 2,124 for 2022.
- Lea County Sheriff's Office: 227 for 2025, 514 for 2024, 524 for 2023, 656 for 2022 and 1,433 for 2019; 2020 and 2021 are missing months.
- Lovington: 97 for 2025 and 198 for 2019; 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 are missing months.
- Eunice: 32 for 2025, 21 for 2024, 26 for 2023, 23 for 2022, 84 for 2020 and 153 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Jal: 1 for 2024, 21 for 2022 and 89 for 2019; 2020, 2021 and 2023 are missing months.
- Tatum: 0 for 2019.
Together, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,382 arrests that year. The one of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 32 in 2025 against 21 in 2024.
Through July 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 670 arrests, against 743 in the same months of 2025.
Jal reported only part of 2025 (10 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Lea County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Lea 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 240 people, down from about 290 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 480 beds, and it ran at 60 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the Lea County Sheriff's Office at leacounty.gov/206/LCDC-Detainee-Roster (page title: LCDC Detainee Roster | Lea County, NM), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
That page is the place to look for someone who was booked recently; a person cited and released at the scene, or held only a few hours by a city department, will not be on it.
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 Lea County
An arrest in Lea County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Lea County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the District Court for Lea County, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at caselookup.nmcourts.gov/caselookup).
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 Lea County
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 Lea County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Hobbs, Lovington, Eunice, Jal or Tatum: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the District Court for Lea County, through the court records page at caselookup.nmcourts.gov/caselookup.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Department of Public Safety.
Cities in Lea County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the five cities in Lea County: Hobbs, Lovington, Eunice, Jal and Tatum.
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 Lea County.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Lea County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Hobbs (41,061)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Lea County each year?
Hobbs reported 1,026 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the four agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 1,382 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Lea County?
Look on the custody page of the Lea County Sheriff's Office at leacounty.gov/206/LCDC-Detainee-Roster. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Lea County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Lea County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Lea County?
The court files of criminal cases in the District Court for Lea 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 Lea County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Lea 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 Lea 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.