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.
Luna County, New Mexico, has about 26,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Luna County Sheriff's Office and one city 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 Luna 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: Luna County public records, New Mexico arrest records, New Mexico inmate search and New Mexico criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Luna County
The Luna County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Luna County. It reported 16 arrests for 2019, its latest complete year.
The FBI lists one city in Luna County with a reporting agency of its own:
- Deming, 15,272 residents: 1,500 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 Luna 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.
- Deming: 1,500 for 2019.
- Luna County Sheriff's Office: 16 for 2019.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2019 on file reported 1,516 arrests that year.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Luna County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Luna County and kept in custody ends up, whichever agency made the arrest, though a city department may hold someone in its own cells first and a person cited and released at the scene is never booked. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and once the person is released or sentenced the record continues in the court file.
On an average day in 2023 the jail held about 380 people, up from about 320 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 610 beds, and it ran at 62 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 Luna County Sheriff's Office at lunacounty.gov/departments/sheriff_s_department/index.php (page title: Luna County, NM), phone 575-546-2655, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 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 Luna County
For Luna County the place to look is New Mexico Courts Case Lookup, the New Mexico Judiciary's free statewide case search, which shows whether charges were filed.
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 Luna 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 Luna County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 575-546-2655.
- An arrest in Deming: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Department of Public Safety.
Cities in Luna County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the two cities in Luna County: Deming. Columbus 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 Luna County.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Luna County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Deming (15,272)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Luna County each year?
Deming reported 1,500 arrests to the FBI for 2019, and the two agencies with every month of 2019 on file reported 1,516 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Luna County?
Ask the Luna County Sheriff's Office at 575-546-2655; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at lunacounty.gov.
Where are people arrested in Luna County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Luna County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Luna County?
The court files of criminal cases in the District Court for Luna 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 Luna County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Luna 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 Luna 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.