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.
Edgecombe County, North Carolina, has about 49,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Edgecombe County Sheriff's Office and two 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 Edgecombe 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: Edgecombe County public records, North Carolina arrest records, North Carolina inmate search and North Carolina criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Edgecombe County
The Edgecombe County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Edgecombe County. It reported 852 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside two 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:
- Tarboro, 10,954 residents: 329 arrests reported for 2025.
- Pinetops, 1,196 residents: 1,153 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 Whitakers Police Department, the Rocky Mount Police Department and the Sharpsburg Police Department are each listed by the FBI across several counties including Edgecombe County, so their arrests are not broken out for Edgecombe County here.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Edgecombe 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.
- Pinetops: 1,153 for 2025, 1,163 for 2024, 1,164 for 2023, 1,164 for 2022, 1,164 for 2021 and 1,144 for 2020.
- Edgecombe County Sheriff's Office: 852 for 2025, 914 for 2024, 756 for 2023, 765 for 2022, 694 for 2021 and 713 for 2020.
- Tarboro: 329 for 2025, 388 for 2024 and 362 for 2023.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 2,334 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 2,334 in 2025 against 2,465 in 2024, down 5.3 percent.
Through July 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 1,474 arrests, against 1,347 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Edgecombe County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Edgecombe 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 140 people, down from about 220 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2018, the last year with a capacity figure, was 203 beds, and it ran at 104 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 Edgecombe County Sheriff's Office at edgecombecountync.gov/departments/sheriff/index.php (page title: Edgecombe County Sheriff's Office), phone 252-641-7911, 219 Physical Address 3005 Anaconda Rd Tarboro, NC 27886, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
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 Edgecombe County
For Edgecombe County the place to look is the case index of the Edgecombe 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/edgecombe-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 Edgecombe 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 Edgecombe County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 252-641-7911.
- An arrest in Tarboro or Pinetops: 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 Edgecombe County Superior Court, through the court records page at nccourts.gov/locations/edgecombe-county.
- Your own statewide record: a Right to Review request, fingerprint-based, to the State Bureau of Investigation.
Cities in Edgecombe County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for two of the seven cities in Edgecombe County: Tarboro and Pinetops. Princeville, Macclesfield, Conetoe, Speed and Leggett 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 Edgecombe County Superior Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Edgecombe County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Tarboro (10,954)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Edgecombe County each year?
Pinetops reported 1,153 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 2,334 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Edgecombe County?
Ask the Edgecombe County Sheriff's Office at 252-641-7911; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at edgecombecountync.gov.
Where are people arrested in Edgecombe County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Edgecombe County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Edgecombe County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Edgecombe 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 Edgecombe County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Edgecombe 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.
Is this the official Edgecombe 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.