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.
Newton, North Carolina, in Catawba County, has about 14,000 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 Catawba 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: Newton public records, Catawba County arrest records, North Carolina arrest records and North Carolina inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Newton
The FBI lists Newton with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Newton Police Department. It reported 429 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 Catawba County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 2,097 arrests for 2025.
How Many Arrests Newton Reports
The FBI publishes every agency's monthly arrest counts 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.
- Newton: 429 for 2025, 410 for 2024, 457 for 2023, 520 for 2022, 488 for 2021 and 433 for 2020.
Newton's 429 arrests in 2025 were up 4.6 percent from 410 in 2024.
Through July 2026, Newton reported 323 arrests, against 243 in the same months of 2025.
Across Catawba County, the six agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 7,672 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Newton Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Newton is held at the county jail, whichever agency made the arrest, apart from the short stay some city departments' own holding cells allow; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked at all. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and the court file takes over from there.
On an average day in 2024 the jail held about 340 people, up from about 210 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2022, the last year with a capacity figure, was 539 beds, and it ran at 55 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 Catawba County Sheriff's Office at injail.catawbacountync.gov/whosinjail (page title: Who's In Jail), 170 Newton District Court Conover Police Department View Alford, Alonzo 6/21/2026 441 2ND ST PL SW HICKORY, NC 28602, 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 sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction lists its inmates at dac.nc.gov/dac-services/criminal-offender-searches.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Newton
Whether someone was arrested in Newton, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the custody page of the Catawba County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Catawba 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/catawba-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 Newton
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 Newton police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at newtonnc.gov/departments/police/records.php (page title: Police Records), phone 828-465-7430, 411 N. Main Avenue, Newton, NC 28658, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 2026.
- An arrest by the Catawba County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Catawba County Superior Court, through the court records page at nccourts.gov/locations/catawba-county.
- Your own statewide record: a Right to Review request, fingerprint-based, to the State Bureau of Investigation.
The Catawba County guide covers every agency in the county: Catawba County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Newton each year?
Newton reported 429 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Newton?
Look on the custody page of the Catawba County Sheriff's Office at injail.catawbacountync.gov/whosinjail. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Newton booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Catawba County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Newton?
The court files of criminal cases in the Catawba 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 Newton?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Newton police for its own arrests, the Catawba 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 Newton 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.