Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones the agency reported to the FBI, through 2025. 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 23, 2026 and September 25, 2026.
Hereford, Texas, in Deaf Smith County, has about 15,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and its arrests are reported to the FBI by an agency of its own. An arrest in the city 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 Deaf Smith County District Court. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts the agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies and common questions.
Related guides: Hereford public records, Deaf Smith County arrest records, Texas arrest records and Texas inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Hereford
The FBI lists Hereford with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Hereford Police Department. It reported 351 arrests for 2025. A city is listed separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
Outside the city, the Deaf Smith County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 26 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Deaf Smith County: the Deaf Smith County Constable (other).
How Many Arrests Hereford Reports
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.
- Hereford: 351 for 2025, 299 for 2024, 240 for 2023, 282 for 2022, 276 for 2021 and 394 for 2020.
Hereford's 351 arrests in 2025 were up 17 percent from 299 in 2024.
Through August 2026, Hereford reported 216 arrests, against 217 in the same months of 2025.
Across Deaf Smith County, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 377 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Hereford Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Hereford 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.
So far in 2026 the jail has held about 86 people on an average day, up from about 73 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 196 beds, and it is running at 44 percent of it. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the jail page of the Deaf Smith County Sheriff's Office at dscso.org (page title: Deaf Smith County Sheriff's Office), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
A person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, whose inmate locator is at inmate.tdcj.texas.gov/InmateSearch/start.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Hereford
For Hereford the place to look is the case index of the Deaf Smith County District Court, kept by the District Clerk for district court cases and the County Clerk for county court cases, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date.
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at idocket.com/PRO/announcements/PressReleaseEmeraldDeafSmtihCC.htm (page title: deaf smith county court records accessible online), belongs to a lower court, not to the Deaf Smith County District Court.
Texas is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: the Conviction Database search lets anyone look up convictions and deferred adjudications by name, for $3 a search, through the Texas Department of Public Safety. That record shows what agencies reported to the state, which is wider than one county's court index but can lag it.
Getting a Copy of an Arrest Record in Hereford
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 Texas Public Information Act the agency must answer within 10 business days, and it may charge the copy rates set by the Attorney General, plus labor for large requests.
- An arrest by the Hereford police: the police department's page SearchSystems verified at herefordtexas.gov/178/Police-Department (page title: Police Department | Hereford, TX), phone 806-363-7120, 212 Lee Avenue Hereford, TX 79045, Monday through Friday 8 am to 5 pm, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 2026.
- An arrest by the Deaf Smith County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- The court file of a case that was filed: in the Deaf Smith County District Court it is kept by the District Clerk for district court cases and the County Clerk for county court cases. The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at idocket.com, is a lower court's.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Department of Public Safety.
The Deaf Smith County guide covers every agency in the county: Deaf Smith County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Hereford each year?
Hereford reported 351 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Hereford?
Ask the Deaf Smith County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at dscso.org.
Where are people arrested in Hereford booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Deaf Smith County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Hereford?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Texas Department of Public Safety: the Conviction Database search lets anyone look up convictions and deferred adjudications by name, for $3. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Texas Public Information Act.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Hereford?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Hereford police for its own arrests, the Deaf Smith County Sheriff's Office for the sheriff's. Under the Texas Public Information Act the answer is due within 10 business days.
Is this the official Hereford website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official city, county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.