New Mexico Missing Children

A missing child in New Mexico is reported to the city police, the county sheriff, the New Mexico State Police or, on tribal land, the tribal or pueblo police or the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the New Mexico Department of Public Safety coordinates the case, issues AMBER Alerts and keeps the state's missing persons clearinghouse. Once the child is in the FBI's database and a parent, guardian or the police agree, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children can add the case to its national posters and search. There is no waiting period.

New Mexico has built out more alert types than most states. Alongside the AMBER Alert it runs the Brittany Alert for missing people with developmental disabilities, the Silver Alert for seniors, and the Turquoise Alert for missing Indigenous people, created in 2025.

Official sources on this page were checked on September 25, 2026.

• NCMEC missing child searchNational search of missing child posters
• Missing children from New Mexico, NCMECNCMEC case search for children missing from New Mexico
• New Mexico Missing Persons Search
• Amber Alert New MexicoNew Mexico Amber Alert
• What To Do If Your Child Is MissingMissing Children Assistance
• NCMEC map of long term missing and unidentified childrenNational map; zoom in to New Mexico
• Infant Abduction Prevention and Resources
• Missing Kids in New MexicoNew Mexico Missing Kids

New Mexico county sheriffs

The New Mexico Department of Public Safety activates an AMBER Alert at the request of the investigating agency when a child under 18 has been abducted, is believed to be in danger of serious harm or death, and there is enough information about the child, the abductor or a vehicle to help the public. The alert reaches radio and television through the Emergency Alert System, phones through the wireless emergency alert system, and the highway signs run by the Department of Transportation on Interstates 25, 40 and 10, and it is shared with Texas, Arizona, Colorado, Oklahoma and Utah and with the border crossings when a vehicle may be heading into Mexico.

• New Mexico Department of Public SafetyAMBER, Brittany, Silver and Turquoise Alert activations and the missing persons clearinghouse

The New Mexico Missing Persons Information Clearinghouse in the Department of Public Safety keeps the statewide file of missing children and adults, posts case listings with photos, coordinates with the National Center and NamUs, and works with the tribal police and the FBI on reservation and pueblo cases. Start with the local police, the county sheriff, the State Police or the tribal police, get the case number, and check that the child is in the National Crime Information Center, which every police agency in the country can see. The next call is to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in New Mexico. Albuquerque police have a dedicated missing persons unit, and the Bernalillo County sheriff covers the rest of the metro area.

• New Mexico Police DepartmentsCity police departments that take missing child reports
• New Mexico County Sheriff DirectorySheriff offices for all 33 counties
• New Mexico Most WantedFugitives and outstanding warrants

The Brittany Alert, created in 2011, covers a missing person of any age with a developmental disability, the Silver Alert covers seniors with cognitive impairment, and the Turquoise Alert covers a missing Indigenous person when the circumstances suggest danger. The state's Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives Task Force works on cases that fall between tribal, federal and state jurisdiction. Case records stay with the investigating agency, and on tribal land they may sit with the tribe or the FBI. Under the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act, basic case facts are public while law enforcement investigative records can be withheld, and juvenile records are confidential. Older cases reach NamUs only when the investigating agency or the family submits them and the agency approves publication, so the public NamUs search shows a share of the state's open cases, not all of them in New Mexico.

• NamUsNational database of missing and unidentified persons
• New Mexico Criminal RecordsCriminal history and court records in New Mexico

• National Center for Missing & Exploited ChildrenMissing child posters, reports and the CyberTipline
• AMBER Alert, U.S. Department of JusticeHow AMBER Alerts work and who issues them
• NISMART, national studies of missing childrenDepartment of Justice research on missing children