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.
Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, has about 1.2 million residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by seven city agencies and four campus, state or other 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 Mecklenburg 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: Mecklenburg County public records, North Carolina arrest records, North Carolina inmate search and North Carolina criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Mecklenburg County
The FBI lists seven cities in Mecklenburg County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Charlotte, 943,476 residents: 12,564 arrests reported for 2025.
- Huntersville, 67,087 residents: 330 arrests reported for 2025.
- Cornelius, 34,366 residents: 255 arrests reported for 2025.
- Matthews, 32,048 residents: 363 arrests reported for 2025.
- Mint Hill, 28,825 residents: 502 arrests reported for 2025.
- Davidson, 16,276 residents: 41 arrests reported for 2025.
- Pineville, 11,567 residents: 429 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 Stallings Police Department is listed by the FBI across two counties including Mecklenburg County, so its arrests are not broken out for Mecklenburg County here.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Mecklenburg County: Queens University, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and Davidson College (campus police); the Mecklenburg County Alcoholic Beverage Control Law Enforcement Office (other).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Mecklenburg 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.
- Charlotte: 12,564 for 2025, 10,942 for 2024, 11,491 for 2023, 14,246 for 2022, 16,260 for 2021 and 17,814 for 2020.
- Mint Hill: 502 for 2025, 359 for 2024, 304 for 2023, 239 for 2022, 357 for 2021 and 283 for 2020.
- Pineville: 429 for 2025, 517 for 2024, 386 for 2023, 484 for 2022, 487 for 2021 and 436 for 2020.
- Matthews: 363 for 2025, 916 for 2024, 744 for 2023, 614 for 2022, 732 for 2021 and 679 for 2020.
- Huntersville: 330 for 2025, 337 for 2024, 550 for 2023, 439 for 2022, 451 for 2021 and 492 for 2020.
- Cornelius: 255 for 2025, 393 for 2024, 366 for 2023, 355 for 2022, 304 for 2021 and 295 for 2020.
- Davidson: 41 for 2025, 40 for 2024, 38 for 2023, 29 for 2022, 69 for 2021 and 54 for 2020.
Together, the seven agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 14,484 arrests that year. The six of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 14,121 in 2025 against 12,588 in 2024, up 12 percent.
Through August 2026, the seven agencies with every month so far on file reported 10,241 arrests, against 9,639 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Mecklenburg County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Mecklenburg 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 1,280 people, down from about 1,550 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 1,788 beds, and it ran at 66 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 sheriff's office at mecksheriffweb.mecklenburgcountync.gov/Inmate (page title: MCSO), 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 Mecklenburg County
An arrest in Mecklenburg County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Mecklenburg 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/mecklenburg-county); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at cit.mecknc.gov/resources/Legal-Resources/District-Attorneys-Office, phone 704-686-0700).
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 Mecklenburg 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 in Charlotte, Huntersville, Cornelius, Matthews, Mint Hill, Davidson or another of the cities listed above: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- An arrest by Queens University, the Mecklenburg County Alcoholic Beverage Control Law Enforcement Office or the University of North Carolina at Charlotte: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, 704-686-0700, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Mecklenburg County Superior Court, through the court records page at nccourts.gov/locations/mecklenburg-county.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at pi.mecknc.gov (page title: Public Records Requests | Public Information Department).
- Your own statewide record: a Right to Review request, fingerprint-based, to the State Bureau of Investigation.
Cities in Mecklenburg County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the seven cities in Mecklenburg County: Charlotte, Huntersville, Cornelius, Matthews, Mint Hill, Davidson and Pineville.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Mecklenburg County Superior Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Mecklenburg County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Mecklenburg County each year?
Charlotte reported 12,564 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the seven agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 14,484 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Mecklenburg County?
Ask the sheriff's office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at mecksheriffweb.mecklenburgcountync.gov/Inmate.
Where are people arrested in Mecklenburg County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Mecklenburg County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Mecklenburg 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 Mecklenburg County?
From the agency that made the arrest: for most arrests in Mecklenburg County, the Stallings Police Department. 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 pi.mecknc.gov.
Is this the official Mecklenburg 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.