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 26, 2026.
Lamesa, Texas, in Dawson County, has about 8,100 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 Dawson 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: Lamesa public records, Dawson County arrest records, Texas arrest records and Texas inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Lamesa
The FBI lists Lamesa with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Lamesa Police Department. It reported 142 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 Dawson County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 7 arrests for 2025.
How Many Arrests Lamesa 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.
- Lamesa: 142 for 2025, 188 for 2024, 100 for 2023, 210 for 2022, 363 for 2020 and 442 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
Lamesa's 142 arrests in 2025 were down 24 percent from 188 in 2024.
Through July 2026, Lamesa reported 45 arrests, against 93 in the same months of 2025.
Across Dawson County, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 149 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Lamesa Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Lamesa 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 37 people on an average day, down from about 39 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 54 beds, and it is running at 69 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 Dawson County Sheriff's Office at co.dawson.tx.us/page/dawsonSheriff (page title: Dawson County, Texas), phone 806-872-7560, 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 Lamesa
For Lamesa the place to look is the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at co.dawson.tx.us/page/dawson.district.attorney, phone 806-872-2259).
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 Lamesa
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 Lamesa police: the police department's page SearchSystems verified at ci.lamesa.tx.us/government/city_departments/police_department/index... (page title: City of Lamesa Texas), phone 806-872-2121, 370 Police Physical Address 601 South 1st Street Lamesa, TX 79331, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Dawson County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 806-872-7560.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, 806-872-2259, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Department of Public Safety.
The Dawson County guide covers every agency in the county: Dawson County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Lamesa each year?
Lamesa reported 142 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Lamesa?
Ask the Dawson County Sheriff's Office at 806-872-7560; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at co.dawson.tx.us/page/dawsonSheriff.
Where are people arrested in Lamesa booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Dawson County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Lamesa?
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 Lamesa?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Lamesa police for its own arrests, the Dawson 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 Lamesa 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.