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.
Dare County, North Carolina, has about 38,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Dare County Sheriff's Office, six city agencies and one state agency. 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 Dare 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: Dare County public records, North Carolina arrest records, North Carolina inmate search and North Carolina criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Dare County
The Dare County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Dare County. It reported 462 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside six 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:
- Kill Devil Hills, 7,742 residents: 195 arrests reported for 2024.
- Kitty Hawk, 3,691 residents: 89 arrests reported for 2025.
- Southern Shores, 3,127 residents: 91 arrests reported for 2025.
- Nags Head, 3,106 residents: 184 arrests reported for 2025.
- Manteo, 1,595 residents: 67 arrests reported for 2024.
- Duck, 742 residents: 10 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 one more agency in Dare County: the State Park Rangers at Jockey's Ridge (state agency).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Dare 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.
- Dare County Sheriff's Office: 462 for 2025, 309 for 2024, 386 for 2023, 337 for 2022, 470 for 2021 and 556 for 2020.
- Nags Head: 184 for 2025, 225 for 2024, 218 for 2023, 160 for 2022, 159 for 2021 and 117 for 2020.
- Southern Shores: 91 for 2025, 48 for 2024, 40 for 2023, 77 for 2022, 111 for 2021 and 77 for 2020.
- Kitty Hawk: 89 for 2025, 118 for 2024, 127 for 2023, 173 for 2021, 147 for 2020 and 178 for 2019; 2022 is missing months.
- Duck: 10 for 2025, 9 for 2023, 17 for 2022, 18 for 2021, 20 for 2020 and 20 for 2019; 2024 is missing months.
- Kill Devil Hills: 195 for 2024, 235 for 2023, 260 for 2022, 379 for 2021, 301 for 2020 and 279 for 2019.
- Manteo: 67 for 2024, 87 for 2023, 86 for 2022, 78 for 2021, 62 for 2020 and 49 for 2019.
Together, the five agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 836 arrests that year. The four of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 826 in 2025 against 700 in 2024, up 18 percent.
Through July 2026, the four agencies with every month so far on file reported 562 arrests, against 401 in the same months of 2025.
Manteo and Kill Devil Hills reported only part of 2025 (2 months and 11 months) and are left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Dare County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Dare 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 69 people, down from about 98 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 129 beds, and it ran at 51 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 Dare County Sheriff's Office at darenc.gov/departments/sheriff-s-office (page title: Dare County Sheriff's Office | Dare County, NC), phone 252.475.5980, 962 Marshall C. Collins Drive P.O. Box 757 Manteo, NC 27954, 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 Dare County
Whether someone was arrested in Dare County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Dare County Superior Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at darenc.gov/departments/clerk-of-court, phone 252.475.5223); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at darenc.gov/Home/Components/ServiceDirectory/ServiceDirectory/261).
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 Dare 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 Dare County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 252.475.5980.
- An arrest in Kill Devil Hills, Kitty Hawk, Southern Shores, Nags Head, Manteo or Duck: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by the State Park Rangers at Jockey's Ridge: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Dare County Superior Court, through the court records page at darenc.gov/departments/clerk-of-court, phone 252.475.5223.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at darenc.gov (page title: Public Records Requests | Dare County, NC).
- Your own statewide record: a Right to Review request, fingerprint-based, to the State Bureau of Investigation.
Cities in Dare County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the six cities in Dare County: Kill Devil Hills, Kitty Hawk, Southern Shores, Nags Head, Manteo and Duck.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Dare County Superior Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Dare County each year?
The Dare County Sheriff's Office reported 462 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the five agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 836 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Dare County?
Ask the Dare County Sheriff's Office at 252.475.5980; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at darenc.gov/departments/sheriff-s-office.
Where are people arrested in Dare County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Dare County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Dare County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Dare 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 Dare County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Dare 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 darenc.gov.
Is this the official Dare 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.