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.
Lenoir County, North Carolina, has about 55,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Lenoir 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 Lenoir 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: Lenoir County public records, North Carolina arrest records, North Carolina inmate search and North Carolina criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Lenoir County
The Lenoir County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Lenoir County. It reported 1,454 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:
- Kinston, 19,519 residents: 1,474 arrests reported for 2025.
- Pink Hill, 456 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 Grifton Police Department is listed by the FBI across two counties including Lenoir County, so its arrests are not broken out for Lenoir County here.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Lenoir County
The FBI publishes every agency's monthly arrest counts 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.
- Kinston: 1,474 for 2025, 1,289 for 2024, 1,531 for 2021 and 1,043 for 2020; 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
- Lenoir County Sheriff's Office: 1,454 for 2025.
- Pink Hill: 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.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 4,081 arrests that year. The two of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 2,627 in 2025 against 2,452 in 2024, up 7.1 percent.
Through August 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 2,692 arrests, against 2,783 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Lenoir County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Lenoir 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 190 people, down from about 210 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 209 beds, and it ran at 101 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 Lenoir County Sheriff's Office at lenoircountysheriff.com/detention-division (page title: Detention Division | lcso), phone (252) 559-6100, 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 Lenoir County
For Lenoir County the place to look is the case index of the Lenoir 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/lenoir-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 Lenoir 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 Lenoir County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (252) 559-6100.
- An arrest in Kinston or Pink Hill: 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 Lenoir County Superior Court, through the court records page at nccourts.gov/locations/lenoir-county.
- Your own statewide record: a Right to Review request, fingerprint-based, to the State Bureau of Investigation.
Cities in Lenoir County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for two of the three cities in Lenoir County: Kinston and Pink Hill. La Grange has 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 Lenoir County Superior Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Lenoir County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Kinston (19,519)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Lenoir County each year?
Kinston reported 1,474 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 4,081 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Lenoir County?
Ask the Lenoir County Sheriff's Office at (252) 559-6100; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at lenoircountysheriff.com/detention-division.
Where are people arrested in Lenoir County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Lenoir County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Lenoir County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Lenoir 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 Lenoir County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Lenoir 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 Lenoir 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.