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.
Willacy County, Texas, has about 20,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Willacy 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 Willacy 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: Willacy County public records, Texas arrest records, Texas inmate search and Texas criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Willacy County
The Willacy County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Willacy County. It reported 69 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside two 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:
- Raymondville, 10,107 residents: 229 arrests reported for 2025.
- Lyford, 2,209 residents: 4 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 Willacy County: the Raymondville Independent School District, the Lyford Independent School District and the Willacy County Constable's Precinct 3 (other).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Willacy 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.
- Raymondville: 229 for 2025, 280 for 2024, 260 for 2023, 257 for 2022, 239 for 2021 and 260 for 2020.
- Willacy County Sheriff's Office: 69 for 2025, 78 for 2024, 59 for 2023, 75 for 2022, 95 for 2021 and 90 for 2020.
- Lyford: 4 for 2025, 2 for 2024, 1 for 2023, 2 for 2022 and 2 for 2019; 2020 and 2021 are missing months.
- Port Mansfield: 2 for 2025 and 3 for 2024.
Together, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 304 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 304 in 2025 against 363 in 2024, down 16 percent.
Through August 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 225 arrests, against 191 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Willacy County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Willacy 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 560 people on an average day, up from about 63 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 664 beds, and it is running at 85 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 Willacy County Sheriff's Office at willacy.gov/page/willacy.sheriff (page title: Willacy County, Texas), phone (956) 689-5576, 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 Willacy County
An arrest in Willacy County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Willacy County District Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at willacy.gov/page/willacy.district.clerk, phone (956) 689-2532); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at willacy.gov/page/willacy.district.attorney, phone (956) 689-2164).
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 Willacy 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 Willacy County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (956) 689-5576.
- An arrest in Raymondville or Lyford: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by the Raymondville Independent School District, the Lyford Independent School District or the Willacy County Constable's Precinct 3: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, (956) 689-2164, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Willacy County District Court, through the court records page at willacy.gov/page/willacy.district.clerk, phone (956) 689-2532.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Department of Public Safety.
Cities in Willacy County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for two of the three cities in Willacy County: Raymondville and Lyford. San Perlita has no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list. The FBI's list also carries the Port Mansfield Police Department as a city agency in Willacy County; Port Mansfield is not among the cities above.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Willacy County District Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Willacy County each year?
Raymondville reported 229 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the four agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 304 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Willacy County?
Ask the Willacy County Sheriff's Office at (956) 689-5576; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at willacy.gov/page/willacy.sheriff.
Where are people arrested in Willacy County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Willacy County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Willacy 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 Willacy County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Willacy 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 Willacy 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.