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 between September 23, 2026 and September 27, 2026.
Lincoln County, North Carolina, has about 98,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office and one city 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 Lincoln 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: Lincoln County public records, North Carolina arrest records, North Carolina inmate search and North Carolina criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Lincoln County
The Lincoln County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Lincoln County. It reported 1,188 arrests for 2024, its latest complete year.
The FBI lists one city in Lincoln County with a reporting agency of its own:
- Lincolnton, 12,353 residents: 592 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 Maiden Police Department is listed by the FBI across two counties including Lincoln County, so its arrests are not broken out for Lincoln County here.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Lincoln 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.
- Lincoln County Sheriff's Office: 1,188 for 2024, 1,389 for 2023, 1,077 for 2022, 1,484 for 2021 and 1,391 for 2020.
- Lincolnton: 592 for 2025, 813 for 2024, 866 for 2023, 778 for 2022, 596 for 2021 and 558 for 2020.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2024 on file reported 2,001 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2024 and 2023 complete reported 2,001 in 2024 against 2,255 in 2023, down 11 percent.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Lincoln County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Lincoln 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 150 people, down from about 160 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 159 beds, and it ran at 102 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 Lincoln County Sheriff's Office at p2c.lincolnsheriff.org/jailinmates.aspx (page title: Lincoln County Sheriffs Office P2C), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 27, 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 Lincoln County
For Lincoln County the place to look is the case index of the Lincoln 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/lincoln-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 Lincoln 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 Lincoln County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Lincolnton: 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 Lincoln County Superior Court, through the court records page at nccourts.gov/locations/lincoln-county.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at lincolncountync.nextrequest.com (page title: Lincoln County Public Record RequestsNextRequest | Modern FOIA & Public Records Request Software).
- Your own statewide record: a Right to Review request, fingerprint-based, to the State Bureau of Investigation.
Cities in Lincoln County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for Lincolnton, the one city in Lincoln County.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Lincoln County Superior Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Lincoln County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Lincolnton (12,353)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Lincoln County each year?
The Lincoln County Sheriff's Office reported 1,188 arrests to the FBI for 2024, and the two agencies with every month of 2024 on file reported 2,001 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Lincoln County?
Ask the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at p2c.lincolnsheriff.org/jailinmates.aspx.
Where are people arrested in Lincoln County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Lincoln County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Lincoln 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 Lincoln County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Lincoln 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 lincolncountync.nextrequest.com.
Is this the official Lincoln 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.