Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones each agency reported to the FBI, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026. 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 on September 23, 2026.
Brunswick County, North Carolina, has about 167,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Brunswick County Sheriff's Office and 12 city agencies. An arrest 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 Brunswick County Superior Court. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts each agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies, cities and common questions.
Related guides: Brunswick County public records, North Carolina arrest records, North Carolina inmate search and North Carolina criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Brunswick County
The Brunswick County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Brunswick County. It reported 870 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside 12 of the county's cities are reported to the FBI by an agency of the city's own, listed here with the Census population and what each reported:
- Leland, 34,451 residents: 281 arrests reported for 2025.
- Oak Island, 9,322 residents: 117 arrests reported for 2024.
- Boiling Spring Lakes, 6,738 residents: 81 arrests reported for 2025.
- Shallotte, 5,161 residents: 88 arrests reported for 2025.
- Sunset Beach, 4,521 residents: 49 arrests reported for 2025.
- Southport, 4,341 residents: 74 arrests reported for 2024.
- Navassa, 1,776 residents: 53 arrests reported for 2023.
- Northwest, 1,037 residents: 10 arrests reported for 2023.
- Ocean Isle Beach, 962 residents: 10 arrests reported for 2024.
- Holden Beach, 919 residents: 8 arrests reported for 2024.
- Caswell Beach, 387 residents: 1 arrests reported for 2024.
- Bald Head Island, 278 residents: 8 arrests reported for 2022.
A city on that list is reported separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Brunswick County
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.
- Brunswick County Sheriff's Office: 870 for 2025, 745 for 2024, 706 for 2023, 921 for 2022 and 958 for 2021.
- Leland: 281 for 2025, 190 for 2024, 293 for 2023 and 158 for 2021; 2022 is missing months.
- Oak Island: 117 for 2024, 193 for 2021, 219 for 2020 and 261 for 2019; 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
- Shallotte: 88 for 2025, 95 for 2024, 128 for 2023, 62 for 2022, 71 for 2021 and 150 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
- Southport: 74 for 2024, 89 for 2022 and 111 for 2019; 2020, 2021 and 2023 are missing months.
- Boiling Spring Lakes: 81 for 2025, 59 for 2024, 61 for 2023, 69 for 2022, 49 for 2021 and 79 for 2020.
- Sunset Beach: 49 for 2025, 58 for 2024, 53 for 2022, 62 for 2021 and 65 for 2019; 2020 and 2023 are missing months.
- Ocean Isle Beach: 10 for 2024, 29 for 2023 and 20 for 2019; 2020, 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
- Holden Beach: 8 for 2024, 1 for 2023, 21 for 2021 and 18 for 2020; 2022 is missing months.
- Caswell Beach: 1 for 2024 and 1 for 2023.
- Navassa: 53 for 2023.
- Northwest: 10 for 2023.
Together, the ten agencies with all twelve months of 2024 on file reported 1,357 arrests that year. The seven of them with both 2024 and 2023 complete reported 1,108 in 2024 against 1,219 in 2023, down 9.1 percent.
Navassa and Northwest reported only part of 2024 (4 months and 10 months) and are left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Brunswick County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Brunswick County 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 150 people, down from about 340 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 440 beds, and it ran at 78 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 Brunswick County Sheriff's Office at brunswicksheriff.com/detention-center (page title: Detention Center | Brunswick County Sheriff's Office), phone 910-253-2777, 70 Stamp Act Drive, Bolivia, NC 28422, 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 Brunswick County
For Brunswick County the place to look is the case index of the Brunswick 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/brunswick-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 Brunswick County
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 Brunswick County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 910-253-2777.
- An arrest in Leland, Oak Island, Boiling Spring Lakes, Shallotte, Sunset Beach, Southport or another of the cities listed above: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Brunswick County Superior Court, through the court records page at nccourts.gov/locations/brunswick-county.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at brunswickcountync.gov (page title: Public Record Requests | Brunswick County, NC).
- Your own statewide record: a Right to Review request, fingerprint-based, to the State Bureau of Investigation.
Cities in Brunswick County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for 12 of the 19 cities in Brunswick County: Leland, Oak Island, Boiling Spring Lakes, Shallotte, Sunset Beach, Southport, Navassa, Northwest, Ocean Isle Beach, Holden Beach, Caswell Beach and Bald Head Island. St. James, Carolina Shores, Belville, Calabash, Varnamtown, Sandy Creek and Bolivia have no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Brunswick County Superior Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Brunswick County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Leland (34,451)
- Oak Island (9,322)
- Shallotte (5,161)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Brunswick County each year?
The Brunswick County Sheriff's Office reported 870 arrests to the FBI for 2025. For 2024, the latest year most of the agencies in Brunswick County sent in full, the ten with every month on file reported 1,357 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Brunswick County?
Ask the Brunswick County Sheriff's Office at 910-253-2777; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at brunswicksheriff.com/detention-center.
Where are people arrested in Brunswick County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Brunswick County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Brunswick County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Brunswick 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 Brunswick County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Brunswick County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the North Carolina Public Records Act the answer is due as promptly as possible; the statute sets no number of days; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at brunswickcountync.gov.
Is this the official Brunswick 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.