SearchSystems Editorial

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 23, 2026.

About this guide

Cameron County, Texas, has about 432,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Cameron County Sheriff's Office, 16 city agencies and 13 campus, state or other 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 Cameron County District Court. 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: Cameron County public records, Texas arrest records, Texas inmate search and Texas criminal records.

Who Makes Arrests in Cameron County

The Cameron County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Cameron County. It reported 919 arrests for 2025.

Arrests inside 16 of the county's cities are reported to the FBI by an agency of the city's own, listed here with the Census population and what each reported, the largest twelve first; the rest are named in the cities section below:

  • Brownsville, 191,967 residents: 3,218 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Harlingen, 72,234 residents: 2,888 arrests reported for 2025.
  • San Benito, 24,712 residents: 553 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Los Fresnos, 8,563 residents: 580 arrests reported for 2025.
  • La Feria, 7,036 residents: 252 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Primera, 5,449 residents: 32 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Port Isabel, 5,210 residents: 367 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Laguna Vista, 3,791 residents: 51 arrests reported for 2023.
  • Combes, 3,259 residents: 181 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Rancho Viejo, 2,863 residents: 17 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Santa Rosa, 2,366 residents: 16 arrests reported for 2020.
  • Rio Hondo, 2,311 residents: 14 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.

The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Cameron County: the Cameron County Constable's Precincts 5, 4, 1, 2 and 3, Cameron County Park Rangers, the Brownsville Independent School District, the Santa Rosa Independent School District and four more (other); Texas State Technical College at Harlingen (campus police).

How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Cameron 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.

  • Brownsville: 3,218 for 2025, 3,218 for 2024, 3,316 for 2023, 3,445 for 2022, 3,319 for 2021 and 3,732 for 2020.
  • Harlingen: 2,888 for 2025, 2,530 for 2024, 2,763 for 2023, 2,910 for 2022, 2,884 for 2021 and 2,539 for 2020.
  • Cameron County Sheriff's Office: 919 for 2025, 896 for 2024, 899 for 2023, 1,027 for 2022, 960 for 2021 and 1,926 for 2020.
  • Los Fresnos: 580 for 2025, 540 for 2024, 439 for 2023, 439 for 2021, 346 for 2020 and 384 for 2019; 2022 is missing months.
  • San Benito: 553 for 2025, 601 for 2024, 489 for 2023, 394 for 2022, 573 for 2021 and 612 for 2020.
  • Port Isabel: 367 for 2025, 470 for 2024, 436 for 2022, 392 for 2021, 299 for 2020 and 390 for 2019; 2023 is missing months.
  • South Padre Island: 330 for 2025, 295 for 2024, 639 for 2023, 909 for 2022, 907 for 2021 and 898 for 2020.
  • La Feria: 252 for 2025, 234 for 2024, 292 for 2023, 279 for 2022, 274 for 2021 and 218 for 2020.
  • Combes: 181 for 2025, 245 for 2024, 180 for 2023, 69 for 2022, 142 for 2021 and 73 for 2020.
  • Primera: 32 for 2025, 30 for 2023, 27 for 2022, 16 for 2021, 139 for 2020 and 109 for 2019; 2024 is missing months.
  • Rancho Viejo: 17 for 2025, 27 for 2024, 13 for 2023, 16 for 2022, 18 for 2021 and 46 for 2020.
  • Rio Hondo: 14 for 2025, 52 for 2024, 26 for 2023, 35 for 2022, 23 for 2021 and 12 for 2020.

Together, the 14 agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 9,358 arrests that year. The 12 of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 9,322 in 2025 against 9,109 in 2024, up 2.3 percent.

Through August 2026, the 13 agencies with every month so far on file reported 6,335 arrests, against 5,769 in the same months of 2025.

Laguna Vista reported only part of 2025 (11 months) and is left out of the totals.

Booking: Where People Arrested in Cameron County Are Held

A person kept in custody after an arrest in Cameron 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.

So far in 2026 the jail has held about 1,450 people on an average day, up from about 1,180 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 1,746 beds, and it is running at 83 percent of it. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.

SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the Cameron County Sheriff's Office at cameroncountytx.gov/incoming/inmates/site (page title: Cameron County Inmate List), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.

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 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 Cameron County

Whether someone was arrested in Cameron County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the custody page of the Cameron County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at cameroncountytx.gov/districtattorney).

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 Cameron 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 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 Cameron County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
  • An arrest in Brownsville, Harlingen, San Benito, Los Fresnos, La Feria, Primera or another of the cities listed above: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
  • An arrest by the Cameron County Constable's Precincts 5, 4, 1, 2 and 3, Cameron County Park Rangers or the Brownsville Independent School District: the records office of the agency involved.
  • A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney handles discovery for pending cases.
  • Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at cameroncountytx.nextrequest.com (page title: Public Information PortalNextRequest | Modern FOIA & Public Records Request Software).
  • Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Department of Public Safety.

Cities in Cameron County: Who Reports the Arrests

The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for 16 of the 17 cities in Cameron County: the twelve named above and South Padre Island, Palm Valley, Los Indios and Indian Lake. Bayview 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 Cameron County District Court.

SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Cameron County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:

Frequently Asked Questions

How many arrests are made in Cameron County each year?

Brownsville reported 3,218 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the 14 agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 9,358 between them.

How do I find out if someone is in jail in Cameron County?

Look on the custody page of the Cameron County Sheriff's Office at cameroncountytx.gov/incoming/inmates/site. It covers people booked into the county jail.

Where are people arrested in Cameron County booked?

Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Cameron County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.

Are arrest records public in Cameron County?

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 Cameron County?

From the agency that made the arrest: the Cameron County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Texas Public Information Act the answer is due within 10 business days; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at cameroncountytx.nextrequest.com.

Is this the official Cameron 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.