Las Animas County Booking Reports

Las Animas County booking reports are kept by the sheriff's office in Trinidad, Colorado. This county sits in the southern part of the state along the New Mexico border and covers a wide stretch of land. Booking reports here track arrests made by the sheriff's deputies and local law enforcement. When someone is booked into the Las Animas County Jail, the record includes their name, charges, date of arrest, and other details. These are public records under Colorado law. You can get them by contacting the sheriff's office or by using statewide search tools that pull data from across all Colorado counties.

Las Animas County Sheriff Records

The Las Animas County Sheriff's Office handles all booking records for the county. Their main office is in Trinidad at the Las Animas County Courthouse. You can call them at 719-846-2211 to ask about booking reports, jail records, or arrest logs. This is a rural county, so the sheriff's office is the primary law enforcement agency for most of the area. Trinidad has its own police department, but bookings from city arrests still go through the county jail system. The sheriff's staff process each booking and keep the records on file.

There is no online inmate search tool for Las Animas County. Unlike larger counties in Colorado that have web portals where you can look up who is in jail, Las Animas County does not offer that. You need to call or visit the sheriff's office in person. When you call, have the full name of the person you are looking for. A date of birth helps too. Staff can check if that person has a booking record on file and tell you the basic details over the phone in most cases. For a written copy of the report, you may need to submit a formal request.

Note: The sheriff's office may have limited hours for records requests, so call ahead before visiting.

Statewide Search Tools

Even though Las Animas County does not have its own online search, Colorado has statewide tools that cover every county. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation runs a criminal history check site at cbirecordscheck.com. This costs $6.85 per search. It pulls records from across the state, including Las Animas County. The search returns arrest records, charges, and case outcomes when they are available. Anyone can use it. You just need the person's name and date of birth to run a check.

The CBI criminal history check below shows what the search portal looks like when you start a new query.

Results from the CBI may take a few minutes to come back. They cover the full state, not just one county.

Another option is VINE, which stands for Victim Information and Notification Everyday. VINE is free. You can search for an inmate by name and see their custody status. It also lets you sign up for alerts if the person gets released or transferred. Pick Colorado as your state and then search by name. VINE works for inmates held at the Las Animas County Jail and at jails across the state. The toll-free number for VINE is 1-888-263-8463.

How to Request Booking Records

Colorado's Criminal Justice Records Act gives people the right to inspect and get copies of booking reports. This law is found at C.R.S. § 24-72-301 and the sections that follow it. Under § 24-72-302, an arrest record must include the name of the person, the charges, and the agency that made the arrest. These are classified as records of official action, which means they must be open to the public. The Las Animas County Sheriff's Office has to follow these rules just like every other agency in the state.

When you submit a request, the agency has 3 business days to respond. They can ask for up to 7 more days if the request is large or complex. The first hour of staff time to find and prepare records is free. After that first hour, they can charge a fee for the time spent, and copies run about $0.25 per page. You can send your request by mail to the Las Animas County Sheriff's Office in Trinidad, or call 719-846-2211 to ask how they prefer to receive requests. Some offices take them by email too, but check with them first.

Note: You may need to sign a form stating you will not use the records for direct business solicitation.

Las Animas County Corrections Records

If someone was booked in Las Animas County and later sent to state prison, you can find their records through the Colorado Department of Corrections. The CDOC has an offender search tool at doc.state.co.us/oss. It is free and shows current inmates in the state prison system. The search shows the person's name, ID number, facility, and sentence information. This is separate from the county booking report. The booking report is the initial arrest record held by the sheriff. The CDOC record is the prison record after conviction and sentencing.

For people who were booked and released without going to state prison, the CDOC search will not have their records. In that case, go back to the sheriff's office or use the CBI check for the most complete picture of what happened with the case in Las Animas County.

Booking Photos and Privacy

Booking photos taken at the Las Animas County Jail are public records. But Colorado has a specific law about how they can be used. Under C.R.S. § 24-72-305.5, it is illegal to publish a booking photo on a website and then charge money to remove it. This applies to Las Animas County mugshots and mugshots from every other county in Colorado. Violating this law is a class 3 misdemeanor. Fines can go up to $1,000. The law does not stop the sheriff's office from releasing booking photos to the public, but it does limit how third parties can use them for profit.

You can still get a booking photo by contacting the sheriff's office directly. Just include it in your records request. The same fees apply for copies of photos as for other records.

Nearby Counties

Las Animas County is bordered by several other counties in southern Colorado. If you are not sure where an arrest took place, the booking report will be held by the county that made the arrest.