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 between September 23, 2026 and October 1, 2026.
Richmond County, North Carolina, has about 42,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Richmond County Sheriff's Office and two 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 Richmond 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: Richmond County public records, North Carolina arrest records, North Carolina inmate search and North Carolina criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Richmond County
The Richmond County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Richmond County. It reported 880 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists two cities in Richmond County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Rockingham, 8,802 residents: 755 arrests reported for 2024.
- Hamlet, 5,888 residents: 299 arrests reported for 2024.
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 Richmond 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.
- Richmond County Sheriff's Office: 880 for 2025, 865 for 2024, 859 for 2023, 1,027 for 2022, 1,016 for 2021 and 941 for 2020.
- Rockingham: 755 for 2024, 724 for 2023, 548 for 2022, 577 for 2021, 484 for 2020 and 727 for 2019.
- Hamlet: 299 for 2024 and 297 for 2023.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2024 on file reported 1,919 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2024 and 2023 complete reported 1,919 in 2024 against 1,880 in 2023, up 2.1 percent.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Richmond County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Richmond 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 95 people, down from about 96 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 72 beds, and it ran at 133 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 Richmond County Sheriff's Office at richmondcountysheriff.net/divisions/inmate_information.php (page title: Richmond County Sheriff, NC), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 1, 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 Richmond County
Whether someone was arrested in Richmond County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the custody page of the Richmond County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Richmond 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/richmond-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 Richmond 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 Richmond County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Rockingham or Hamlet: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Richmond County Superior Court, through the court records page at nccourts.gov/locations/richmond-county.
- Your own statewide record: a Right to Review request, fingerprint-based, to the State Bureau of Investigation.
Cities in Richmond County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for two of the six cities in Richmond County: Rockingham and Hamlet. Ellerbe, Dobbins Heights, Hoffman and Norman 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 Richmond County Superior Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Richmond County each year?
The Richmond County Sheriff's Office reported 880 arrests to the FBI for 2025. For 2024, the latest year most of the agencies in Richmond County sent in full, the three with every month on file reported 1,919 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Richmond County?
Look on the custody page of the Richmond County Sheriff's Office at richmondcountysheriff.net. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Richmond County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Richmond County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Richmond County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Richmond 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 Richmond County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Richmond 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 Richmond 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.