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.
Orange County, North Carolina, has about 153,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Orange County Sheriff's Office, three city agencies and two 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 Orange 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: Orange County public records, North Carolina arrest records, North Carolina inmate search and North Carolina criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Orange County
The Orange County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Orange County. It reported 595 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists three cities in Orange County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Chapel Hill, 64,028 residents: 677 arrests reported for 2025.
- Carrboro, 21,079 residents: 262 arrests reported for 2025.
- Hillsborough, 9,773 residents: 197 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 Mebane Police Department and the Durham Police Department are each listed by the FBI across several counties including Orange County, so their arrests are not broken out for Orange County here.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Orange County: the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (campus police); North Carolina Memorial Hospital (other).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Orange 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.
- Chapel Hill: 677 for 2025, 554 for 2024, 496 for 2023, 323 for 2022, 311 for 2021 and 536 for 2020.
- Orange County Sheriff's Office: 595 for 2025, 653 for 2024, 645 for 2023, 592 for 2022, 676 for 2021 and 594 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
- Carrboro: 262 for 2025, 302 for 2024, 353 for 2023, 268 for 2022 and 209 for 2020; 2021 is missing months.
- Hillsborough: 197 for 2025, 230 for 2024, 226 for 2023, 275 for 2022, 315 for 2021 and 326 for 2020.
Together, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,731 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 1,731 in 2025 against 1,739 in 2024, down 0.5 percent.
Through August 2026, the four agencies with every month so far on file reported 1,173 arrests, against 1,125 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Orange County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Orange 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 92 people, down from about 140 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 129 beds, and it ran at 109 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
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 Orange County
For Orange County the place to look is the case index of the Orange 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/orange-county, phone 919-644-4570).
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 Orange 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 Orange County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Chapel Hill, Carrboro or Hillsborough: 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 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill or North Carolina Memorial Hospital: the records office of the agency involved.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Orange County Superior Court, through the court records page at nccourts.gov/locations/orange-county, phone 919-644-4570.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at orangecountync.gov (page title: Online Public Records Request | Orange County, NC).
- Your own statewide record: a Right to Review request, fingerprint-based, to the State Bureau of Investigation.
Cities in Orange County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the three cities in Orange County: Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Hillsborough.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Orange County Superior Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Orange County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Chapel Hill (64,028)
- Carrboro (21,079)
- Hillsborough (9,773)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Orange County each year?
Chapel Hill reported 677 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the four agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 1,731 between them.
Where are people arrested in Orange County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Orange County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Orange County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Orange 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 Orange County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Orange 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 orangecountync.gov.
Is this the official Orange 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.