SearchSystems Editorial

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.

About this guide

New Hanover County, North Carolina, has about 243,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the New Hanover County Sheriff's Office, four 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 New Hanover 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: New Hanover County public records, North Carolina arrest records, North Carolina inmate search and North Carolina criminal records.

Who Makes Arrests in New Hanover County

The New Hanover County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for New Hanover County. It reported 1,294 arrests for 2025.

Arrests inside four 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:

  • Wilmington, 125,284 residents: 2,952 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Carolina Beach, 6,864 residents: 472 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Wrightsville Beach, 2,411 residents: 335 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Kure Beach, 2,154 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 FBI's agency list also places these agencies in New Hanover County: the State Park Rangers at Fort Fisher and the State Park Rangers at Carolina Beach (state agency); the University of North Carolina at Wilmington (campus police); the North Carolina State Port Authority's Division 1 (other).

How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in New Hanover 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.

  • Wilmington: 2,952 for 2025, 2,711 for 2024, 2,746 for 2023, 2,849 for 2022, 2,792 for 2021 and 2,635 for 2020.
  • New Hanover County Sheriff's Office: 1,294 for 2025, 1,275 for 2024, 1,274 for 2023, 1,248 for 2022, 1,529 for 2021 and 1,506 for 2020.
  • Kure Beach: 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.
  • Carolina Beach: 472 for 2025, 402 for 2024, 301 for 2023, 293 for 2022, 288 for 2021 and 295 for 2020.
  • Wrightsville Beach: 335 for 2025, 375 for 2024, 427 for 2023, 260 for 2021 and 531 for 2019; 2020 and 2022 are missing months.

Together, the five agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 6,206 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 6,206 in 2025 against 5,926 in 2024, up 4.7 percent.

Through August 2026, the five agencies with every month so far on file reported 4,052 arrests, against 4,282 in the same months of 2025.

Booking: Where People Arrested in New Hanover County Are Held

A person kept in custody after an arrest in New Hanover 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 490 people, down from about 590 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 672 beds, and it ran at 74 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 New Hanover County Sheriff's Office at p2c.nhcgov.com/p2c/jailinmates.aspx (page title: New Hanover Sheriff's Office P2C), 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 New Hanover County

Whether someone was arrested in New Hanover County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the New Hanover 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/new-hanover-county); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at nccourts.gov/news/tag/general-news/governor-cooper-appoints-distric..., phone (910) 772-6600).

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 New Hanover 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 New Hanover County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
  • An arrest in Wilmington, Carolina Beach, Wrightsville Beach or Kure Beach: 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 the State Park Rangers at Fort Fisher, the University of North Carolina at Wilmington or the North Carolina State Port Authority's Division 1: the records office of the agency involved.
  • A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, (910) 772-6600, handles discovery for pending cases.
  • The court file of a case that was filed: the New Hanover County Superior Court, through the court records page at nccourts.gov/locations/new-hanover-county.
  • Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at nhcgov.com/193/Information-Requests (page title: Information Requests | New Hanover County, NC).
  • Your own statewide record: a Right to Review request, fingerprint-based, to the State Bureau of Investigation.

Cities in New Hanover County: Who Reports the Arrests

The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the four cities in New Hanover County: Wilmington, Carolina Beach, Wrightsville Beach and Kure Beach.

Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the New Hanover County Superior Court.

SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in New Hanover 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 New Hanover County each year?

Wilmington reported 2,952 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the five agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 6,206 between them.

How do I find out if someone is in jail in New Hanover County?

Ask the New Hanover County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at p2c.nhcgov.com/p2c/jailinmates.aspx.

Where are people arrested in New Hanover County booked?

Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the New Hanover County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.

Are arrest records public in New Hanover County?

The court files of criminal cases in the New Hanover 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 New Hanover County?

From the agency that made the arrest: the New Hanover 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 nhcgov.com/193/Information-Requests.

Is this the official New Hanover 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.