Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones the agency reported to the FBI, through 2025. The jail figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data. Every office link was opened and checked against the office's own site between September 23, 2026 and September 25, 2026.
Albemarle, North Carolina, in Stanly County, has about 17,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and its arrests are reported to the FBI by an agency of its own. An arrest in the city leaves the same records whoever makes it: the arresting agency's report, the record of anyone held at the county jail, and, if the District Attorney files charges, a case in the Stanly County Superior Court. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts the agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies and common questions.
Related guides: Albemarle public records, Stanly County arrest records, North Carolina arrest records and North Carolina inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Albemarle
The FBI lists Albemarle with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Albemarle Police Department. It reported 856 arrests for 2025. A city is listed separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
Outside the city, the Stanly County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 282 arrests for 2023.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Stanly County: the State Park Rangers at Morrow Mountain (state agency).
How Many Arrests Albemarle Reports
Each agency reports its arrests to the FBI by month, and the FBI publishes them on the Crime Data Explorer. These are the full-year totals, all offenses, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026; a year with months missing or not reported is left out.
- Albemarle: 856 for 2025, 1,038 for 2024, 1,111 for 2023, 1,077 for 2022, 1,263 for 2021 and 1,460 for 2020.
Albemarle's 856 arrests in 2025 were down 18 percent from 1,038 in 2024.
Through August 2026, Albemarle reported 595 arrests, against 567 in the same months of 2025.
Across Stanly County, the seven agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 7,774 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Albemarle Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Albemarle and kept in custody ends up, whichever agency made the arrest, though a city department may hold someone in its own cells first and a person cited and released at the scene is never booked. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and once the person is released or sentenced the record continues in the court file.
On an average day in 2024 the jail held about 120 people, down from about 130 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 131 beds, and it ran at 99 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the Stanly County Sheriff's Office at stanlysheriff.us/inmateList (page title: Inmates | Stanly County Sheriff’s Office NC), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
That page is the place to look for someone who was booked recently; a person cited and released at the scene, or held only a few hours by a city department, will not be on it.
A person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction, whose inmate locator is at dac.nc.gov/dac-services/criminal-offender-searches.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Albemarle
An arrest in Albemarle can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Stanly County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Stanly County Superior Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at nccourts.gov/locations/stanly-county).
Statewide, eCourts Portal is the North Carolina Judicial Branch's free statewide case search.
North Carolina does not let the public search another person's statewide criminal history. The record kept by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation goes to the person it belongs to and to employers and agencies the law authorizes; for everyone else the court's own case index is the public record of an arrest that led to a charge.
Getting a Copy of an Arrest Record in Albemarle
The report of an arrest is released by the agency that made it; the jail and the court hold their own records of the same event, but not the report. Under the North Carolina Public Records Act the agency must answer as promptly as possible; the statute sets no number of days, and it may charge the actual cost of copying.
- An arrest by the Albemarle police: the police department's page SearchSystems verified at albemarlenc.gov/departments/police-department (page title: Police Department | Albemarle, NC), phone 704-984-9500, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 2026.
- An arrest by the Stanly County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Stanly County Superior Court, through the court records page at nccourts.gov/locations/stanly-county.
- Your own statewide record: a Right to Review request, fingerprint-based, to the State Bureau of Investigation.
The Stanly County guide covers every agency in the county: Stanly County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Albemarle each year?
Albemarle reported 856 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Albemarle?
Look on the custody page of the Stanly County Sheriff's Office at stanlysheriff.us/inmateList. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Albemarle booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Stanly County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Albemarle?
The court files of criminal cases in the Stanly County Superior Court are public and can be looked up through the court. The statewide criminal history kept by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation is not public; you can get your own. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the North Carolina Public Records Act.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Albemarle?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Albemarle police for its own arrests, the Stanly County Sheriff's Office for the sheriff's. Under the North Carolina Public Records Act the answer is due as promptly as possible; the statute sets no number of days.
Is this the official Albemarle website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official city, county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.