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.
Pender County, North Carolina, has about 70,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Pender County Sheriff's Office and three 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 Pender 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: Pender County public records, North Carolina arrest records, North Carolina inmate search and North Carolina criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Pender County
The Pender County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Pender County. It reported 284 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside three 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:
- Surf City, 4,961 residents: 158 arrests reported for 2025.
- Burgaw, 3,825 residents: 145 arrests reported for 2025.
- Topsail Beach, 500 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.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Pender 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.
- Topsail 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.
- Pender County Sheriff's Office: 284 for 2025, 283 for 2024, 327 for 2023, 308 for 2022, 375 for 2021 and 420 for 2020.
- Surf City: 158 for 2025, 129 for 2024, 185 for 2023, 114 for 2022, 152 for 2021 and 192 for 2020.
- Burgaw: 145 for 2025, 205 for 2024, 234 for 2023, 206 for 2022, 181 for 2021 and 307 for 2020.
Together, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,740 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 1,740 in 2025 against 1,780 in 2024, down 2.2 percent.
Through June 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 730 arrests, against 728 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Pender County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Pender 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 62 people, up from about 49 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 92 beds, and it ran at 59 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 Pender County Sheriff's Office at pendersheriff.com/319/Jail-Division (page title: Jail Division | Pender County, NC), phone 910-259-1353, 104 N Walker Street Burgaw, NC 28425, 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 Pender County
For Pender County the place to look is the case index of the Pender 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/pender-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 Pender 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 Pender County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 910-259-1353.
- An arrest in Surf City, Burgaw or Topsail Beach: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Pender County Superior Court, through the court records page at nccourts.gov/locations/pender-county.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at pendercountync.nextrequest.com (page title: Pender County Public Records 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 Pender County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for three of the six cities in Pender County: Surf City, Burgaw and Topsail Beach. St. Helena, Atkinson and Watha have 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 Pender County Superior Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Pender County each year?
Topsail Beach reported 1,153 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the four agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 1,740 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Pender County?
Ask the Pender County Sheriff's Office at 910-259-1353; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at pendersheriff.com/319/Jail-Division.
Where are people arrested in Pender County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Pender County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Pender County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Pender 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 Pender County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Pender 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 pendercountync.nextrequest.com.
Is this the official Pender 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.