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.
Starr County, Texas, has about 67,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Starr County Sheriff's Office, three city agencies and three 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 Starr 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: Starr County public records, Texas arrest records, Texas inmate search and Texas criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Starr County
The Starr County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Starr County. It reported 75 arrests for 2024, its latest complete year.
The FBI lists three cities in Starr County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Rio Grande City, 15,526 residents: 195 arrests reported for 2025.
- Roma, 11,635 residents: 312 arrests reported for 2025.
- La Grulla, 1,237 residents: 3 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 Starr County: the Starr County Constable's Precinct 4, the Roma Independent School District and the Rio Grande City Independent School District (other).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Starr 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.
- Roma: 312 for 2025, 321 for 2024, 336 for 2023, 186 for 2022, 239 for 2021 and 292 for 2020.
- Rio Grande City: 195 for 2025, 152 for 2024, 105 for 2023, 172 for 2022, 178 for 2021 and 248 for 2020.
- La Grulla: 3 for 2025, 6 for 2024, 12 for 2023, 6 for 2022, 13 for 2021 and 4 for 2020.
- Starr County Sheriff's Office: 75 for 2024, 344 for 2020 and 352 for 2019; 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 510 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 510 in 2025 against 479 in 2024, up 6.5 percent.
Through August 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 248 arrests, against 347 in the same months of 2025.
Starr County Sheriff's Office reported only part of 2025 (9 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Starr County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Starr County 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 300 people on an average day, up from about 240 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 321 beds, and it is running at 94 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 Starr County Sheriff's Office at co.starr.tx.us/page/Sheriff (page title: Sheriff | Starr County, Texas), phone 956-487-5571, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
A sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the Texas Department of Criminal Justice lists its inmates at inmate.tdcj.texas.gov/InmateSearch/start.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Starr County
An arrest in Starr County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Starr County District Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at co.starr.tx.us/page/District.Clerk, phone 956-716-4800); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at co.starr.tx.us/page/District.Attorney, phone (956) 716-4800).
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 Starr 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 Starr County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 956-487-5571.
- An arrest in Rio Grande City, Roma or La Grulla: 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 Starr County Constable's Precinct 4, the Roma Independent School District or the Rio Grande City 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, (956) 716-4800, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Starr County District Court, through the court records page at co.starr.tx.us/page/District.Clerk, phone 956-716-4800.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Department of Public Safety.
Cities in Starr County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for three of the four cities in Starr County: Rio Grande City, Roma and La Grulla. Escobares 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 Starr County District Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Starr County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Rio Grande City (15,526)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Starr County each year?
Roma reported 312 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 510 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Starr County?
Ask the Starr County Sheriff's Office at 956-487-5571; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at co.starr.tx.us/page/Sheriff.
Where are people arrested in Starr County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Starr County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Starr 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 Starr County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Starr 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 Starr 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.