Reviewed and updated October 7, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest and crime counts are the ones each agency reported to the FBI, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026. Every office link was opened and checked against the office's own site between September 24, 2026 and October 2, 2026.
Colleton County, South Carolina, has about 39,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). In South Carolina the public criminal record is the court file, kept by the Clerk of Court; the statewide criminal history kept by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is open to anyone who asks. This guide says where each record of a criminal case from Colleton County is kept and how it is seen.
This guide covers the court file, the statewide record, local arrest records, the crimes behind the records, sex offender registry, records requests and common questions.
Related guides: Colleton County public records, Colleton County warrants, Colleton County inmate search, Colleton County court records, Colleton County police reports, South Carolina arrest records and South Carolina inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Colleton County Circuit Court
In South Carolina the public criminal record is the court file. Criminal cases from Colleton County are heard by the Colleton County Circuit Court, which hears felonies in the Court of General Sessions and civil cases over $7,500 in the Court of Common Pleas; the Magistrate Court takes misdemeanors, traffic cases and civil cases up to $7,500, and the file of each case is kept by the Clerk of Court.
South Carolina has no single public index of every trial court case; each court's records are looked up through that court.
The South Carolina Criminal History and Your Own Copy
South Carolina is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: the CATCH service lets anyone run a name-based criminal record search online, for $25 a search, through the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division. The result is the repository record, what agencies reported to the state, which is wider than one county's court index but can lag it. The search is on the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division site.
Arrest Records Kept Locally in Colleton County
The Colleton County Sheriff's Office, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division's Colleton County Sheriff's Office and the agencies that report for Walterboro, Edisto Beach and Cottageville keep the arrest records in Colleton County: the report and the booking record of each arrest stay with the agency that made it, separate from the court file and from the state repository.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Colleton County: the Highway Patrol in Colleton County (state police); the Department of Natural Resources in Colleton County, the Colleton County Forestry Commission, the Department of Health and Environmental Control Drug Control in Colleton County and the Colleton County State Transport Police (state agency); each keeps the records of its own arrests.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Colleton County in 2024
The three agencies in Colleton County with all twelve months of 2024 on file reported 217 violent and 773 property crimes to the FBI that year; the same agencies with both 2024 and 2023 complete reported 990 crimes in 2024 against 1,221 in 2023. Each reported crime is a report on file with the agency that took it, and each arrest that follows is the start of a criminal record.
The full crime section, agency by agency, is on the Colleton County public records guide.
The Sex Offender Registry for Colleton County
Registered sex offenders living in Colleton County are listed on the South Carolina Sex Offender Registry, run by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division at scor.sled.sc.gov/ConditionsOfUse.Aspx. The registry is public and can be searched online; the county sheriff registers them.
Registration itself is done in person with the local agency where the registrant lives: the sheriff's office, or the city police in a city with its own department.
Asking an Agency in Colleton County for a Record
An arrest report, a booking record or a local criminal history letter comes from the agency that holds it, not from the court.
Under the South Carolina Freedom of Information Act a county office must answer a request within 10 business days, or 20 for records more than two years old, and it may charge search, retrieval and copying at the agency's actual cost.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Colleton County?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division: the CATCH service lets anyone run a name-based criminal record search online, for $25. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the South Carolina Freedom of Information Act.
How do I get my own South Carolina criminal history?
Through the same CATCH search, run on yourself; the state fee is $25.
Is this the official Colleton County website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.