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. Every office link was opened and checked against the office's own site on September 23, 2026.
Gates County, North Carolina, has about 10,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Gates County Sheriff's Office 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 Gates 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: Gates County public records, North Carolina arrest records, North Carolina inmate search and North Carolina criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Gates County
The Gates County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Gates County. It reported 178 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Gates County: the State Park Rangers at Merchants Millpond (state agency).
How Many Arrests The Gates County Sheriff's Office Reports
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.
- Gates County Sheriff's Office: 178 for 2025, 185 for 2024, 173 for 2023, 135 for 2022, 111 for 2021 and 152 for 2020.
The Gates County Sheriff's Office's 178 arrests in 2025 were down 3.8 percent from 185 in 2024.
Through July 2026, Gates County Sheriff's Office reported 104 arrests, against 103 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Gates County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Gates 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.
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 Gates County
For Gates County the place to look is the case index of the Gates 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/gates-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 Gates 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 Gates County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest by the State Park Rangers at Merchants Millpond: the records office of the agency involved.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Gates County Superior Court, through the court records page at nccourts.gov/locations/gates-county.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at gatescountync.gov/public-records (page title: Public Records Request | Gates County, NC).
- Your own statewide record: a Right to Review request, fingerprint-based, to the State Bureau of Investigation.
Cities in Gates County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists no city in Gates County with an arrest reporting agency of its own; the counts above are the county agencies'.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Gates County Superior Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Gates County each year?
The Gates County Sheriff's Office reported 178 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
Where are people arrested in Gates County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Gates County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Gates County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Gates 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 Gates County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Gates 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 gatescountync.gov/public-records.
Is this the official Gates 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.