Bowlin's Old Crater Trading Post · Photo: MRobison · CC BY-SA 4.0What is recorded in Bluewater Village, and why there is no grade
Bluewater Village has no police department of its own: it’s an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) in Cibola County. The Cibola County Sheriff’s Office reports to the FBI for the parts of the county without police of their own, so there are no figures for Bluewater Village alone, and no Safety Grade. Grants, 12 miles away, is the nearest town with a Safety Grade (C).
What stands out about safety in Bluewater Village
Policed by the county
Bluewater Village is a census-designated place, with no town government. Crimes there are reported to the FBI inside the Cibola County Sheriff’s Office’s totals for the county. County police ↓
Counts, not rates
The FBI doesn’t publish how many people the Cibola County Sheriff’s Office covers, so its totals can’t be turned into a per-resident rate or a grade for Bluewater Village. County police ↓
The nearest graded towns
The closest New Mexico towns with their own police figures are Grants (C, 12 mi), Gallup (D−, 46 mi), Rio Rancho (C, 73 mi). Nearby towns can differ a lot from Bluewater Village. Nearest ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What the Cibola County Sheriff’s Office reports
Reports to the FBI for the parts of Cibola County without police of their own, which include Bluewater Village.
Property crimes
Violent crimes
2025 offenses reported by the Cibola County Sheriff’s Office
Counts, not rates: the FBI doesn’t publish how many people each agency covers. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, Tables 10–11.
Crimes reported to the FBI for the whole area the department covers, by year.
The nearest New Mexico towns with a Safety Grade
| Town | Grade | Distance | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grants | C | 12 mi | 4.1 | 11.3 |
| Gallup | D− | 46 mi | 14.1 | 41.5 |
| Rio Rancho | C | 73 mi | 3.5 | 12.6 |
| Los Lunas | D | 75 mi | 5.6 | 26.4 |
| Belen | D− | 75 mi | 12.7 | 41.9 |
| Albuquerque | D− | 76 mi | 11.7 | 44.3 |
Straight-line distance from the center of Bluewater Village. Nearby towns can differ a lot from Bluewater Village.
Each town’s own police figures, per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Four people died in crashes on Bluewater Village’s roads in 2019–2023
Bluewater Village had 3 fatal crashes in five years, in which four people died; 1 was a pedestrian. Most of these deaths (4 of 4) were on an Interstate passing through, so they say more about through-traffic than about the town’s own streets.
That is more than is typical for New Mexico towns of 2,500–5,000 people: at their median rate (7.8 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Bluewater Village’s size would see about 0 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Bluewater Village’s own rate (601.5) is context, not a ranking.
Deaths are counted where the crash happened, not where the people lived: a highway through town adds through-traffic deaths, and residents’ own risk on roads elsewhere isn’t here. Town rates sit below state and U.S. rates because a third of fatal crashes happen outside any town. Road safety is described here and is not part of the Safety Grade. Source: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023.
Bluewater Village and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- It’s reported crime. Only incidents reported to and recorded by police appear here. Many crimes are never reported to police.
- A county agency covers a wide area. Its totals mix many communities, so they say little about any one of them.
- Gaps are real gaps. A missing year means the department didn’t report a full year, not that nothing happened.
How the grade is calculated, for every town: How TownRatings grades safety →
Questions about safety in Bluewater Village
Is Bluewater Village, NM safe?
There is no Safety Grade for Bluewater Village. The nearest New Mexico towns with a grade are Grants (C, 12 mi), Gallup (D−, 46 mi), Rio Rancho (C, 73 mi).
Who polices Bluewater Village?
The Cibola County Sheriff’s Office. Bluewater Village is an unincorporated community, and the department reports to the FBI for the parts of Cibola County without police of their own.
Heads-up board
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Bluewater Village.
Crime: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Crime Data Explorer: offenses known to law enforcement by city, and state and national rates. Counts are crimes reported to police, not convictions. The Safety Grade is our own summary of that data, not an official rating. Road deaths: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023. This isn’t an official statement of public safety. In an emergency, call 911.