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 2, 2026.
San Juan County, New Mexico, has about 121,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the San Juan County Sheriff's Office and three 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 San Juan 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: San Juan County public records, New Mexico arrest records, New Mexico inmate search and New Mexico criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in San Juan County
The San Juan County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for San Juan County. It reported 1,151 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists three cities in San Juan County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Farmington, 46,262 residents: 3,276 arrests reported for 2025.
- Bloomfield, 7,363 residents: 232 arrests reported for 2025.
- Aztec, 6,129 residents: 169 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 San Juan County
Each agency reports its arrests to the FBI by month, and the FBI publishes them 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.
- Farmington: 3,276 for 2025, 2,693 for 2023, 2,494 for 2022, 2,813 for 2021, 2,992 for 2020 and 4,855 for 2019; 2024 is missing months.
- San Juan County Sheriff's Office: 1,151 for 2025, 1,253 for 2024, 1,218 for 2023 and 1,172 for 2021; 2022 is missing months.
- Bloomfield: 232 for 2025, 190 for 2024, 129 for 2023, 176 for 2022, 153 for 2021 and 115 for 2020.
- Aztec: 169 for 2025, 159 for 2024, 182 for 2023, 165 for 2022, 195 for 2021 and 169 for 2020.
Together, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 4,828 arrests that year. The three of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 1,552 in 2025 against 1,602 in 2024, down 3.1 percent.
Through August 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 2,853 arrests, against 2,589 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in San Juan County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in San Juan 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 530 people, down from about 590 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 1,094 beds, and it ran at 48 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 San Juan County Sheriff's Office at sanjuansheriff.org (page title: About San Juan County Sheriff and Jail Inmate Locator), a site that blocks automated checks (HTTP 403), so open it in a browser.
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 San Juan County
An arrest in San Juan County can be traced in three places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the San Juan County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the District Court for San Juan County, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at sjcounty.net/government/county-clerk/about, phone (505) 334-4231); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at nmdas.com/judicial-districts/eleventh-judicial-district-div-i, phone (505) 599-9810).
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 San Juan 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 San Juan County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Farmington, Bloomfield or Aztec: 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) 599-9810, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the District Court for San Juan County, through the court records page at sjcounty.net/government/county-clerk/about, phone (505) 334-4231.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Department of Public Safety.
Cities in San Juan County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for three of the four cities in San Juan County: Farmington, Bloomfield and Aztec. Kirtland 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 San Juan County.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in San Juan County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Farmington (46,262)
- Aztec (6,129)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in San Juan County each year?
Farmington reported 3,276 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the four agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 4,828 between them.
Where are people arrested in San Juan County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the San Juan County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in San Juan County?
The court files of criminal cases in the District Court for San Juan 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 San Juan County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the San Juan 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 San Juan 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.