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.
Gaines County, Texas, has about 23,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Gaines County Sheriff's Office and two 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 Gaines 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: Gaines County public records, Texas arrest records, Texas inmate search and Texas criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Gaines County
The Gaines County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Gaines County. It reported 138 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists two cities in Gaines County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Seminole, 7,386 residents: 294 arrests reported for 2024.
- Seagraves, 2,260 residents: 123 arrests reported for 2019.
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 Gaines 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.
- Seminole: 294 for 2024, 280 for 2023, 296 for 2022, 223 for 2021, 235 for 2020 and 334 for 2019.
- Gaines County Sheriff's Office: 138 for 2025, 97 for 2024, 78 for 2023, 70 for 2022, 102 for 2021 and 445 for 2020.
- Seagraves: 123 for 2019.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2024 on file reported 391 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2024 and 2023 complete reported 391 in 2024 against 358 in 2023, up 9.2 percent.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Gaines County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Gaines 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 57 people on an average day, up from about 41 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 96 beds, and it is running at 59 percent of it. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
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 Gaines County
Whether someone was arrested in Gaines County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Gaines County District Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at co.gaines.tx.us/page/gaines.dockets); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at co.gaines.tx.us/page/gaines.District.Attorney, phone (432) 758-5411).
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 Gaines 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 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 Gaines County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Seminole or Seagraves: 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, (432) 758-5411, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Gaines County District Court, through the court records page at co.gaines.tx.us/page/gaines.dockets.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Department of Public Safety.
Cities in Gaines County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the two cities in Gaines County: Seminole and Seagraves.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Gaines County District Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Gaines County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Seminole (7,386)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Gaines County each year?
Seminole reported 294 arrests to the FBI for 2024, and the two agencies with every month of 2024 on file reported 391 between them.
Where are people arrested in Gaines County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Gaines County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Gaines 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 Gaines County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Gaines 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.
Is this the official Gaines 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.