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.
Carteret County, North Carolina, has about 70,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Carteret County Sheriff's Office, eight city agencies and three campus, state or other 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 Carteret 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: Carteret County public records, North Carolina arrest records, North Carolina inmate search and North Carolina criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Carteret County
The Carteret County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Carteret County. It reported 1,022 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists eight cities in Carteret County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Morehead City, 9,963 residents: 358 arrests reported for 2025.
- Beaufort, 4,895 residents: 112 arrests reported for 2025.
- Newport, 4,501 residents: 257 arrests reported for 2025.
- Emerald Isle, 4,001 residents: 132 arrests reported for 2025.
- Cape Carteret, 2,288 residents: 65 arrests reported for 2025.
- Pine Knoll Shores, 1,435 residents: 30 arrests reported for 2025.
- Atlantic Beach, 1,421 residents: 91 arrests reported for 2025.
- Indian Beach, 231 residents: 1 arrests reported for 2025.
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.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Carteret County: the Division of Marine Fisheries and the State Park Rangers at Fort Macon (state agency); the North Carolina State Port Authority's Division 2 (other).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Carteret 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.
- Carteret County Sheriff's Office: 1,022 for 2025, 1,015 for 2024, 933 for 2023, 987 for 2022, 1,141 for 2021 and 1,094 for 2020.
- Morehead City: 358 for 2025, 277 for 2024, 295 for 2023, 379 for 2022, 447 for 2021 and 490 for 2020.
- Newport: 257 for 2025, 205 for 2024, 205 for 2023, 229 for 2022, 205 for 2021 and 194 for 2020.
- Emerald Isle: 132 for 2025, 184 for 2024, 180 for 2023, 209 for 2022, 258 for 2021 and 252 for 2020.
- Beaufort: 112 for 2025, 90 for 2024, 93 for 2023, 103 for 2022, 120 for 2021 and 157 for 2020.
- Atlantic Beach: 91 for 2025, 121 for 2024, 130 for 2023, 82 for 2022, 80 for 2021 and 72 for 2020.
- Cape Carteret: 65 for 2025, 62 for 2024, 43 for 2023, 63 for 2022, 121 for 2021 and 93 for 2020.
- Pine Knoll Shores: 30 for 2025, 35 for 2024, 49 for 2023, 73 for 2022, 62 for 2021 and 48 for 2020.
- Indian Beach: 1 for 2025, 10 for 2023, 14 for 2022, 40 for 2020 and 23 for 2019; 2021 and 2024 are missing months.
Together, the nine agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 2,068 arrests that year. The eight of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 2,067 in 2025 against 1,989 in 2024, up 3.9 percent.
Through July 2026, the seven agencies with every month so far on file reported 1,226 arrests, against 1,022 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Carteret County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Carteret County 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 130 people, down from about 180 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 116 beds, and it ran at 154 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 Carteret County Sheriff's Office at carteretcountync.gov/874/Inmate-Search (page title: Inmate Search | Carteret County, NC), phone 252-504-4832, 304 Craven Street Beaufort, NC 28516, 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 Carteret County
Whether someone was arrested in Carteret County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the custody page of the Carteret County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Carteret 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/carteret-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 Carteret County
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 Carteret County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 252-504-4832.
- An arrest in Morehead City, Beaufort, Newport, Emerald Isle, Cape Carteret, Pine Knoll Shores 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.
- An arrest by the Division of Marine Fisheries, the North Carolina State Port Authority's Division 2 or the State Park Rangers at Fort Macon: the records office of the agency involved.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Carteret County Superior Court, through the court records page at nccourts.gov/locations/carteret-county.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at carteretcountync.gov (page title: Public Records Request | Carteret County, NC).
- Your own statewide record: a Right to Review request, fingerprint-based, to the State Bureau of Investigation.
Cities in Carteret County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for eight of the 11 cities in Carteret County: Morehead City, Beaufort, Newport, Emerald Isle, Cape Carteret, Pine Knoll Shores, Atlantic Beach and Indian Beach. Cedar Point, Peletier and Bogue 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 Carteret County Superior Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Carteret County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Morehead City (9,963)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Carteret County each year?
The Carteret County Sheriff's Office reported 1,022 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the nine agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 2,068 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Carteret County?
Look on the custody page of the Carteret County Sheriff's Office at carteretcountync.gov/874/Inmate-Search, or call 252-504-4832. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Carteret County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Carteret County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Carteret County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Carteret 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 Carteret County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Carteret 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 carteretcountync.gov.
Is this the official Carteret 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.