Hinsdale County Booking Report Lookup

Hinsdale County booking reports are managed by the sheriff's office in Lake City. This is the least populated county in Colorado. Fewer than 800 people live here year-round, spread across more than 1,100 square miles of remote mountain terrain in the San Juan range. Despite its tiny size, Hinsdale County still has a sheriff's office that handles arrests and booking records. The number of bookings each year is very low, but the same Colorado laws that apply to Denver or El Paso County apply here too. Contact the sheriff to get booking information, or turn to statewide databases for a broader search.

Hinsdale County Sheriff Records

The Hinsdale County Sheriff's Office is in Lake City. Call 970-944-2291 to reach the office. This is a very small operation. The sheriff and a handful of deputies cover the entire county. When an arrest occurs, the booking goes through the sheriff's office. Staff create a booking report that includes the person's name, charges, date of arrest, and the arresting agency. Given the low population, bookings are rare compared to more urban counties. But each one follows the same legal process.

Hinsdale County does not have a large detention facility. People who need to be held for more than a short time are usually transferred to a neighboring county's jail, often Gunnison County or Mineral County. The booking report stays with the Hinsdale County Sheriff regardless of where the person is transferred. If you are trying to find someone who was arrested in Hinsdale County, start with the sheriff's office even if the person was moved elsewhere.

Note: Hinsdale County's jail is minimal. Most longer-term holds are transferred to a larger county facility.

Get Hinsdale County Booking Reports

The simplest way is a phone call. Dial 970-944-2291 and ask about the booking you need. With such a small number of bookings per year, the staff can usually find what you need quickly. For a formal records request, you have rights under the CCJRA. Colorado's Criminal Justice Records Act at C.R.S. § 24-72-301 says records of official actions like arrests must be open for public inspection. The sheriff's office has 3 business days to respond.

Under C.R.S. § 24-72-302, arrest records must contain the name of the arrested person, the charges filed, the arresting agency, and the date and location of the arrest. The first hour of research is free. After that, fees go up to $41.37 per hour, with copies at $0.25 per page. For a county as small as Hinsdale, the entire request will almost certainly be done in under an hour. You still need to sign a statement saying you won't use the records for direct business solicitation for money.

Statewide Tools for Hinsdale County

Even in Colorado's smallest county, the statewide databases still work. The CBI criminal history check at cbirecordscheck.com costs $6.85 and pulls data from every county in the state. If someone was booked in Hinsdale County, that record should appear in the CBI system once the sheriff submits it. Because bookings here are so infrequent, there may be very few Hinsdale County records in the database at any given time, but the tool still covers the county.

The CDOC offender search shown in the screenshot below covers people sentenced to state prison, which may include people originally arrested in Hinsdale County.

The CDOC database only covers state prison inmates, not people held in county jails.

VINE is a free inmate notification system. Search by name, choose Colorado, and register for alerts. If someone in the Hinsdale County jail (or a jail they have been transferred to) gets released or moved, VINE notifies you. The toll-free line is 1-888-263-8463. VINE is especially handy for small counties where the jail may not have regular phone staff to answer custody questions at all hours.

Booking Photos and Record Sealing

Booking photos from Hinsdale County are public records. You can request them like any other part of the booking report. Colorado law at C.R.S. § 24-72-305.5 makes it a misdemeanor to publish booking photos online and charge fees for removal. Fines can reach $1,000. This applies to all Colorado counties, Hinsdale included.

Some booking records get sealed by court order. Colorado courts can seal records when charges are dropped, when a person is found not guilty, or under other circumstances laid out in state law. The CBI has its own automatic sealing rules too. If a Hinsdale County booking record has been sealed, the sheriff cannot release it and it will not appear in any statewide search. Sealed records are completely removed from public access.

Note: If your records request is denied and you believe it should not have been, you can challenge the decision in court or contact the Colorado Attorney General's office.

Nearby Counties

Hinsdale County is surrounded by other remote mountain counties. Because Hinsdale transfers inmates to neighboring jails, you may need to check with these counties about custody status.