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 September 27, 2026.
Lincoln County, New Mexico, has about 20,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Lincoln 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 Lincoln 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: Lincoln County public records, New Mexico arrest records, New Mexico inmate search and New Mexico criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Lincoln County
The Lincoln County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Lincoln County. It reported 422 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:
- Ruidoso, 7,640 residents: 429 arrests reported for 2019.
- Ruidoso Downs, 2,627 residents: 17 arrests reported for 2025.
- Capitan, 1,409 residents: 8 arrests reported for 2024.
- Carrizozo, 968 residents: 7 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.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Lincoln 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.
- Ruidoso Downs: 17 for 2025 and 187 for 2019; 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 are missing months.
- Carrizozo: 7 for 2025 and 14 for 2019; 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 are missing months.
- Ruidoso: 429 for 2019.
- Lincoln County Sheriff's Office: 422 for 2019.
- Capitan: 8 for 2024, 20 for 2023, 19 for 2022, 5 for 2021 and 80 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 24 arrests that year.
Capitan reported only part of 2025 (10 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Lincoln County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Lincoln 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 82 people, down from about 230 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 144 beds, and it ran at 162 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 Lincoln County Sheriff's Office at p2c.lincolnsheriff.org/jailinmates.aspx (page title: Lincoln County Sheriffs Office P2C), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 27, 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 Lincoln County
Whether someone was arrested in Lincoln County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the District Court for Lincoln County, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at caselookup.nmcourts.gov/caselookup); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at 12th.nmdas.com/prosecution).
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 Lincoln 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 Lincoln County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Ruidoso, Ruidoso Downs, Capitan or Carrizozo: 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 handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the District Court for Lincoln County, through the court records page at caselookup.nmcourts.gov/caselookup.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at lincolncountynm.gov (page title: Public Records Request (IPRA)).
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Department of Public Safety.
Cities in Lincoln County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for four of the five cities in Lincoln County: Ruidoso, Ruidoso Downs, Capitan and Carrizozo. Corona has no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list.
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 Lincoln County.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Lincoln County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Ruidoso (7,640)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Lincoln County each year?
Ruidoso Downs reported 17 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 24 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Lincoln County?
Ask the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at p2c.lincolnsheriff.org/jailinmates.aspx.
Where are people arrested in Lincoln County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Lincoln County?
The court files of criminal cases in the District Court for Lincoln 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 Lincoln County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Lincoln 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 lincolncountynm.gov.
Is this the official Lincoln 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.