Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest and crime counts are the ones each agency reported to the FBI, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026. Every office link was opened and checked against the office's own site between September 24, 2026 and September 30, 2026.
Torrance County, New Mexico, has about 16,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). In New Mexico the public criminal record is the court file, kept by the Clerk of the District Court; the statewide criminal history kept by the New Mexico Department of Public Safety is released only to its subject and to the employers and agencies the law allows. This guide says where each record of a criminal case from Torrance County is kept and how it is seen.
This guide covers the court file, the statewide record, local arrest records, the crimes behind the records, the prosecutor, sex offender registry, records requests and common questions.
Related guides: Torrance County public records, Torrance County arrest records, Torrance County warrants, Torrance County inmate search, Torrance County court records, New Mexico arrest records and New Mexico inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the District Court for Torrance County
A criminal case from Torrance County is filed in the District Court for Torrance County or the Magistrate Court, which takes misdemeanors, traffic cases and civil cases up to $10,000; Bernalillo County has the Metropolitan Court instead, and the court file, kept by the Clerk of the District Court, is the record of it that the public may see.
For Torrance County, SearchSystems opened and checked the court records page for the county at seventhdistrict.nmcourts.gov/public-records (page title: Public Records | Seventh Judicial District), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
Statewide, New Mexico Courts Case Lookup is the New Mexico Judiciary's free statewide case search.
The New Mexico Criminal History and Your Own Copy
The statewide criminal history kept by the New Mexico Department of Public Safety is closed to the public in New Mexico: it is released to its subject and to authorized employers and licensing agencies, and a member of the public uses the court's own case index instead.
To see your own record, the route is a fingerprint-based request to the Department of Public Safety. The state page SearchSystems verified for it is at dps.nm.gov/law-enforcement-records-bureau.
Arrest Records Kept Locally in Torrance County
The Torrance County Sheriff's Office and the agencies that report for Moriarty, Estancia and Mountainair keep the arrest records in Torrance County: the report and the booking record of each arrest stay with the agency that made it, separate from the court file and from the state repository.
Together, the two agencies in Torrance County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 232 arrests to the FBI that year; how each case ended is in the court file, not in the arresting agency's.
The agencies and their counts, year by year, are in Torrance County arrest records.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Torrance County in 2025
The two agencies in Torrance County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 38 violent and 168 property crimes to the FBI that year; the one of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 161 crimes in 2025 against 175 in 2024. Each reported crime is a report on file with the agency that took it, and each arrest that follows is the start of a criminal record.
The full crime section, agency by agency, is on the Torrance County public records guide.
The District Attorney for Torrance County
The District Attorney decides which arrests in Torrance County become charges and files them in the District Court for Torrance County or the Magistrate Court; the office answers questions about pending prosecutions, and the case files themselves are court records.
The office's page SearchSystems verified is at nmdas.com/judicial-districts/seventh-judicial-district (page title: SEVENTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT | New Mexico Administrative Office of the District Attorneys), phone (575) 835-0052, 87801, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 30, 2026.
The Sex Offender Registry for Torrance County
Registered sex offenders living in Torrance County are listed on the New Mexico Sex Offender Registry, run by the New Mexico Department of Public Safety at offenderwatch.com/network/new-mexico. The registry is public and can be searched online; the county sheriff registers them.
Registration itself is done in person with the local agency where the registrant lives: the sheriff's office, or the city police in a city with its own department.
Asking an Agency in Torrance County for a Record
An arrest report, a booking record or a local criminal history letter comes from the agency that holds it, not from the court.
Under the Inspection of Public Records Act a county office must answer a request within 15 calendar days, after acknowledging the request within 3 business days, and it may charge copying at no more than $1 a page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Torrance County?
The court files of criminal cases in the District Court for Torrance 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.
Can I search Torrance County criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at seventhdistrict.nmcourts.gov/public-records (page title: Public Records | Seventh Judicial District). Statewide, New Mexico Courts Case Lookup is the New Mexico Judiciary's free statewide case search.
How do I get my own New Mexico criminal history?
Through a fingerprint-based request to the Department of Public Safety.
Who prosecutes crimes in Torrance County?
The District Attorney, reached at (575) 835-0052, which files its cases in the District Court for Torrance County or the Magistrate Court.
Is this the official Torrance 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.