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.
Kinston, North Carolina, in Lenoir County, has about 20,000 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 Lenoir 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: Kinston public records, Lenoir County arrest records, North Carolina arrest records and North Carolina inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Kinston
The FBI lists Kinston with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Kinston Police Department. It reported 1,474 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 Lenoir County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 1,454 arrests for 2025.
How Many Arrests Kinston 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.
- Kinston: 1,474 for 2025, 1,289 for 2024, 1,531 for 2021 and 1,043 for 2020; 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
Kinston's 1,474 arrests in 2025 were up 14 percent from 1,289 in 2024.
Through August 2026, Kinston reported 1,113 arrests, against 980 in the same months of 2025.
Across Lenoir County, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 4,081 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Kinston Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Kinston 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 190 people, down from about 210 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 209 beds, and it ran at 101 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the jail page of the Lenoir County Sheriff's Office at lenoircountysheriff.com/detention-division (page title: Detention Division | lcso), phone (252) 559-6100, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
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 Kinston
For Kinston the place to look is the case index of the Lenoir 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/lenoir-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 Kinston
An arrest report belongs to the agency whose officer wrote it, and that agency releases it, not the court or the jail. 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 Kinston police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at kinstonnc.gov/170/Records (page title: Records | Kinston, NC), phone 252-939-3160, 205 E King St Kinston, NC 28501, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 2026.
- An arrest by the Lenoir County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (252) 559-6100.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Lenoir County Superior Court, through the court records page at nccourts.gov/locations/lenoir-county.
- Your own statewide record: a Right to Review request, fingerprint-based, to the State Bureau of Investigation.
The Lenoir County guide covers every agency in the county: Lenoir County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Kinston each year?
Kinston reported 1,474 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Kinston?
Ask the Lenoir County Sheriff's Office at (252) 559-6100; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at lenoircountysheriff.com/detention-division.
Where are people arrested in Kinston booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Lenoir County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Kinston?
The court files of criminal cases in the Lenoir 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 Kinston?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Kinston police for its own arrests, the Lenoir 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 Kinston 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.