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.
Ward County, Texas, has about 11,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Ward County Sheriff's Office and one city agency. 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 Ward 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: Ward County public records, Texas arrest records, Texas inmate search and Texas criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Ward County
The Ward County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Ward County. It reported 166 arrests for 2025.
One city in Ward County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- Monahans, 7,334 residents: 215 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.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Ward 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.
- Monahans: 215 for 2025, 188 for 2024, 157 for 2023, 148 for 2022, 144 for 2021 and 226 for 2020.
- Ward County Sheriff's Office: 166 for 2025, 99 for 2024, 95 for 2023, 66 for 2022, 49 for 2021 and 151 for 2020.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 381 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 381 in 2025 against 287 in 2024, up 33 percent.
Through August 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 216 arrests, against 249 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Ward County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Ward 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 32 people on an average day, down from about 56 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 118 beds, and it is running at 27 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 Ward County Sheriff's Office at co.ward.tx.us/page/ward.sheriff (page title: Ward County, Texas), phone 432-943-6703, 415 E. Monahans Parkway Monahans, TX 79756, 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 Ward County
For Ward County the place to look is the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at co.ward.tx.us/page/ward.district.attorney, phone (432) 251-0456).
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 Ward 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 Ward County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 432-943-6703.
- An arrest in Monahans: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, (432) 251-0456, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Department of Public Safety.
Cities in Ward County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the six cities in Ward County: Monahans. Thorntonville, Wickett, Grandfalls, Barstow and Pyote have 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 Ward County District Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Ward County each year?
Monahans reported 215 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 381 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Ward County?
Ask the Ward County Sheriff's Office at 432-943-6703; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at co.ward.tx.us/page/ward.sheriff.
Where are people arrested in Ward County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Ward County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Ward 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 Ward County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Ward 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 Ward 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.