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.
Lee County, North Carolina, has about 69,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Lee 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 Lee 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: Lee County public records, North Carolina arrest records, North Carolina inmate search and North Carolina criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Lee County
The Lee County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Lee County. It reported 955 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists two cities in Lee County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Sanford, 32,971 residents: 761 arrests reported for 2025.
- Broadway, 1,362 residents: 37 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.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Lee 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.
- Lee County Sheriff's Office: 955 for 2025, 829 for 2024, 791 for 2023, 689 for 2022 and 511 for 2021.
- Sanford: 761 for 2025, 738 for 2024, 866 for 2023, 1,047 for 2022, 1,045 for 2021 and 1,154 for 2020.
- Broadway: 37 for 2025, 29 for 2024, 29 for 2023, 25 for 2022 and 22 for 2021.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,753 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 1,753 in 2025 against 1,596 in 2024, up 9.8 percent.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Lee County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Lee 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 110 people, down from about 130 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2022, the last year with a capacity figure, was 126 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 Lee County Sheriff's Office at leecountync.gov/lee_county_jail/index.php (page title: Lee County), phone 919-718-4567, 1408 South Horner Blvd Sanford, NC 27330, Monday - Friday 8am to 5pm, 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 Lee County
Whether someone was arrested in Lee County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Lee 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/lee-county); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at leecountync.gov/departments/administration/county_attorney.php, phone 919-718-4631).
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 Lee 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 Lee County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 919-718-4567.
- An arrest in Sanford or Broadway: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, 919-718-4631, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Lee County Superior Court, through the court records page at nccourts.gov/locations/lee-county.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at leecountync.gov (page title: Public Record Request).
- Your own statewide record: a Right to Review request, fingerprint-based, to the State Bureau of Investigation.
Cities in Lee County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the two cities in Lee County: Sanford and Broadway.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Lee County Superior Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Lee County each year?
The Lee County Sheriff's Office reported 955 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 1,753 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Lee County?
Ask the Lee County Sheriff's Office at 919-718-4567; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at leecountync.gov/lee_county_jail/index.php.
Where are people arrested in Lee County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Lee County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Lee County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Lee 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 Lee County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Lee 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 leecountync.gov.
Is this the official Lee 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.