San Juan County Arrest Records

San Juan County arrest records refer to official details of arrests made by law enforcement agencies. These records include arrests made by police officers, the local sheriff’s jurisdiction, and federal agents. Arrest records form a part of an individual or group’s criminal records and are maintained by the arresting agency according to the provisions of New Mexico’s Inspection of Public Records Act.

Law enforcement agents are mandated to make arrests where there is reasonable suspicion, or the suspect is apprehended in the act of the crime. Arrests in San Juan County, New Mexico, can be for various offenses, including misdemeanors, felonies, and other infractions. An arrest is made pursuant to executing an arrest warrant issued by a judge or at the discretion of the law enforcement agent, but there must be probable cause in both situations. Consequently, arrest information may be featured in San Juan County Court Records.

Arrests in San Juan County are typically followed by booking, which involves recording the suspect's details before county jail incarceration. Some details obtained during the booking include the suspect’s full name, alleged crime, photographs, DNA, personal description, and fingerprints. Any personal possession of the suspect at the time of arrest will also be processed but kept securely until the suspect is released. Inmates in detention centers can be granted bail where their offense is bailable, and their law enforcement records support it.

Are Arrest Records Public in San Juan County?

Yes, arrest records are public in San Juan County pursuant to the Inspection of Records Act. This Act mandates public agencies to make their records available for inspection. Law enforcement agents in New Mexico maintain San Juan County arrest records, with the Local Sheriff’s Office as the primary custodian.

The general public can also approach the police departments in the county to inspect their arrest records. For instance, arrest records can be obtained in person by going to the Sheriff’s office from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. for the Aztec office or from 7 a.m. to 12 p.m. to 12:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. from Monday to Thursday for the Lee Acres substation. Requesters can also use the online request platform to mail requests to the sheriff’s office.

Note: Public records include records that are not exempted by the IPRA. Such exemptions, such as medical information, trade secrets, confidentially sources identities, and attorney-client privileged information, are provided for in the Act and will be exempted or redacted when they stand alone or are included in public records.

What Do Public Arrest Records Contain?

Arrest records contain details of the suspect apprehended, the circumstances around the arrest, and other parties involved. San Juan County arrest records are kept and maintained according to the IPRA, and the following information is detailed therein:

• The arrested individual’s date of birth, gender, full name, and physical description.
• The arrest details such as the location, time, date, and the arresting officer’s particulars.
• The crimes to be levied against the suspect. The specific laws or statutes guiding the offense will also be stated.
• The suspect’s booking information, such as fingerprints, booking number, and mugshot.
• The suspect’s bail and bond details, if applicable in the particular case, and the bond conditions.
• The court information following the arrangement.

San Juan County Crime Rate

San Juan County’s crime rate is available through the FBI UCR website. In the year 2022, there were 13,064 violent crimes and 60,584 property crimes reported in New Mexico. The county sheriff’s department recorded 455 property crimes and 210 violent crimes in the same period. The most violent crime reported is aggravated assault, with 1611 incidents, closely followed by rape, with 43 incidents. The most reported property crime was larceny-theft, with 269 incidents, followed by burglary with 107 reporters. The last reported property crime is arson, with nine reports.

San Juan County Arrest Statistics

San Juan County arrest statistics, according to the FBI UCR, disclose 250 arrests were made for simple assault crimes in 2022. In the same period, 83 arrests were made for aggravated assault, while six arrests were made for sex offenses. The lease arrests were for murder & non-negligent manslaughter, and rape, with two arrests each.

Find San Juan County Arrest Records

Law enforcement agencies operating in San Juan County are in charge of keeping and maintaining arrest records. The Sheriff’s Office is the primary records custodian for arrest records in the county, and the public can easily and quickly find and obtain arrest records through the office. The sheriff’s offices are open between 7:30 am to 5:30 pm (Aztec office)or 7 am to 12 pm and 12:30 pm to 5:30 pm (Lee Acres substation). The police departments in the county can also be approached on weekdays to request arrest records.

Aside from physical requests, the sheriff's office has a Request Form website where requesters can provide their required details and mail their requests. The platform allows requests for various records from the Sheriff’s office. The Detainee Search website also allows the public to search the county Adult Detention Center for arrested individuals using search parameters such as Booking number, name, subject number, and housing facility.

Free Arrest Record Search in San Juan County

San Juan County arrest records are available for physical inspection at the Sheriff’s Office and police departments. According to the Inspection of Public Records Act, these records are accessible to the public. Physical inspections can be done from Monday to Thursday between 7:30 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. for the Aztec office or 7 a.m. and 12 p.m. and 12:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.

Requesters in remote locations can use the online platform provided by the sheriff’s office for arrest records searches. Inmates can be searched through the Detainee Search using parameters such as name, booking number, and subject number. There are third-party platforms where arrest records can be obtained for free. These platforms offer faster access to records with little to no cost. While they are useful for urgent requests, information from third-party websites should be subject to government source scrutiny to confirm validity.

Get San Juan County Criminal Records

San Juan County criminal records refer to details of criminal activity relating to an individual or a group. These records can include charges, arrest records, convictions, and dispositions, and they are maintained across the different public agencies handling criminal justice. These custodian agencies include the courts, the correctional and detention centers, and law enforcement agencies.

The courts handle trials and keep records of these court hearings from the day the case is filed. Convicted individuals are sentenced to serve at correctional facilities, constituting another form of a criminal record. Law enforcement agencies make arrests and maintain arrest records. The sheriff’s office has exclusive jurisdiction to make arrests for crimes committed in the county, and his office keeps an updated record of each arrest.

Criminal records are available through in-person inquiries at the sheriff’s office or the court. The court clerk can be approached to request criminal records, while the custodian at the sheriff’s office will take requests within working hours from Monday to Thursday. There are also online platforms for accessing and obtaining criminal records. The Detainee Search website is useful for searching the county’s Adult Detention Center, while the Request Form is useful for requesting from the Sheriff's office records. The public can also approach the New Mexico Department of Public Safety for statewide records of criminal activities and warrants.

San Juan County Arrest Records Vs. Criminal Records

Criminal and arrest records are similar, but the latter is a derivative of the former. Arrest records refer to the details of an individual’s apprehension by law enforcement for alleged crimes. They will indicate the crimes alleged, the arrest time and place, and the arresting officer. Criminal records refer to details and information about a group or individual's criminal activities and convictions. Criminal records include jail records, court records, and law enforcement records.

How Long Do Arrests Stay on Your Record?

Arrests can remain on your record perpetually according to New Mexico’s law. However, it is possible to have arrests expunged from your records if certain conditions are met. The factors that decide how long arrests stay on your record include the case outcome, the crime, the level of offense, completion of an evaluation period with no further convictions, and completion of the judgment sentence. For the case outcome, where there is no conviction, the arrest record can be expunged after a year from the close of the case. In the case of a conviction, the record can be expunged after completing the judgment sentence, including paying any fines or fulfilling any orders. Certain offenses are ineligible for expungement where there’s a conviction, and they include sex offenses, embezzlement, crimes against a child, driving under the influence, and crimes leading to grievous bodily harm or death.

Expunge San Juan County Arrest Records

Expungement of arrest records in San Juan County involves the legal process of sealing or erasing criminal records. It is also how criminal records are made inaccessible to the public. Fulfilling certain requirements makes expungement possible.

These requirements include

• An arrest does not lead to a conviction or certain felony and misdemeanor cases that are eligible for a conviction.
• Completing the waiting period (misdemeanors which are typically two years post-judgment sentence completion, and felonies generally with six-year waiting period post-judgment sentence completion)
• There must be no pending charges against the record owner.

The expungement process begins with filing a petition at the court where the conviction or arrest occured. The petition will be addressed to the District Attorney’s office. The next step is the court hearing, where a judge considers various factors in granting the expungement, such as time lapsed since conviction or arrest, the record owner’s conduct since the arrest, and the nature of the offense. The court makes a decision on the expungement with an order to seal the records if expungement is granted. Following the order issued, all law enforcement agencies must seal the records, and the record owner can rightly claim that he has no convictions or arrests.

San Juan County Arrest Warrants

Arrest warrants refer to orders signed by a judge and issued to a law enforcement officer to execute against a suspected criminal. The arrest warrant remains active until it is executed or the court recalls the warrant. While the warrant is important to execute the arrest, officers can proceed with arrests where there is probable cause whether or not they have the warrant. Arrest warrants can come in two forms: the signed and issued warrant before a court case or a bench warrant for individuals who do not appear in court.

San Juan County arrest warrants will contain the following information:

• The date, location, and time of the arrest
• The arrestee’s physical description and name
• The arresting agency
• The arresting officer’s particulars

San Juan County Arrest Warrant Search

San Juan County arrest records are available through several avenues. The sheriff’s office is open to the public for records inspection and requests work hours from Monday to Thursday. The sheriff’s office has a records custodian to conduct the arrest searches. Other law enforcement agencies possessing warrants to be executed can be approached to check their records for unexecuted warrants. The Eleventh Judicial District Court is in place to give the public details on warrants and other court information.

An alternative to in-person inquiries is using the sheriff’s office’s online platform for arrest records searches. An expanded search may require additional parameters, such as the locations, names, times, and dates of certain incidents.

Do San Juan County Arrest Warrants Expire?

San Juan County arrest warrants generally do not expire until executed. The warrant remains active until the court recalls it or the arresting officer executes it, which applies to felony and misdemeanor arrests. The warrant remains active and executable whether the arresting officer has it at the time of the arrest or not.