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.
Pitt County, North Carolina, has about 181,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Pitt County Sheriff's Office, five city agencies and one campus 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 Pitt 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: Pitt County public records, North Carolina arrest records, North Carolina inmate search and North Carolina criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Pitt County
The Pitt County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Pitt County. It reported 1,871 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists five cities in Pitt County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Greenville, 95,138 residents: 2,538 arrests reported for 2025.
- Winterville, 10,899 residents: 279 arrests reported for 2024.
- Ayden, 5,190 residents: 287 arrests reported for 2025.
- Farmville, 4,547 residents: 324 arrests reported for 2025.
- Grifton, 2,514 residents: 56 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 one more agency in Pitt County: East Carolina University (campus police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Pitt 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.
- Greenville: 2,538 for 2025, 1,994 for 2024, 2,252 for 2023, 1,979 for 2022, 2,266 for 2021 and 2,041 for 2020.
- Pitt County Sheriff's Office: 1,871 for 2025, 2,060 for 2024, 1,733 for 2021, 2,124 for 2020 and 2,854 for 2019; 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
- Farmville: 324 for 2025, 282 for 2024, 321 for 2023, 295 for 2022, 279 for 2021 and 224 for 2020.
- Ayden: 287 for 2025, 239 for 2024, 154 for 2023, 199 for 2022 and 262 for 2021.
- Grifton: 56 for 2025, 87 for 2024, 117 for 2022 and 124 for 2021; 2023 is missing months.
- Winterville: 279 for 2024, 260 for 2023, 420 for 2022, 485 for 2021, 475 for 2020 and 448 for 2019.
Together, the five agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 5,076 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 5,076 in 2025 against 4,662 in 2024, up 8.9 percent.
Through July 2026, the four agencies with every month so far on file reported 2,765 arrests, against 2,767 in the same months of 2025.
Winterville reported only part of 2025 (11 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Pitt County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Pitt 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 350 people, down from about 480 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 475 beds, and it ran at 101 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the Pitt County Sheriff's Office at apps.pittcountync.gov/apps/detention/detainee (page title: Detainee Search), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
That page is the place to look for someone who was booked recently; a person cited and released at the scene, or held only a few hours by a city department, will not be on it.
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 Pitt County
An arrest in Pitt County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Pitt County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Pitt 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/pitt-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 Pitt 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 Pitt County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Greenville, Winterville, Ayden, Farmville or Grifton: 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 East Carolina University: the records office of the agency involved.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Pitt County Superior Court, through the court records page at nccourts.gov/locations/pitt-county.
- Your own statewide record: a Right to Review request, fingerprint-based, to the State Bureau of Investigation.
Cities in Pitt County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for five of the ten cities in Pitt County: Greenville, Winterville, Ayden, Farmville and Grifton. Bethel, Simpson, Grimesland, Fountain and Falkland 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 Pitt County Superior Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Pitt County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Greenville (95,138)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Pitt County each year?
Greenville reported 2,538 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the five agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 5,076 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Pitt County?
Look on the custody page of the Pitt County Sheriff's Office at apps.pittcountync.gov/apps/detention/detainee. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Pitt County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Pitt County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Pitt County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Pitt 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 Pitt County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Pitt 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.
Is this the official Pitt 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.