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.
Stanly County, North Carolina, has about 67,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Stanly County Sheriff's Office, seven city agencies and one state 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 Stanly 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: Stanly County public records, North Carolina arrest records, North Carolina inmate search and North Carolina criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Stanly County
The Stanly County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Stanly County. It reported 282 arrests for 2023, its latest complete year.
Arrests inside seven 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:
- Albemarle, 17,344 residents: 856 arrests reported for 2025.
- Locust, 5,992 residents: 1,153 arrests reported for 2025.
- Norwood, 2,520 residents: 1,153 arrests reported for 2025.
- Oakboro, 2,270 residents: 1,153 arrests reported for 2025.
- Badin, 1,871 residents: 1,153 arrests reported for 2025.
- Stanfield, 1,709 residents: 1,153 arrests reported for 2025.
- Misenheimer, 657 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 one more agency in Stanly County: the State Park Rangers at Morrow Mountain (state agency).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Stanly 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.
- Norwood: 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.
- Oakboro: 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.
- Stanfield: 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.
- Badin: 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.
- Misenheimer: 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.
- Locust: 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.
- Albemarle: 856 for 2025, 1,038 for 2024, 1,111 for 2023, 1,077 for 2022, 1,263 for 2021 and 1,460 for 2020.
- Stanly County Sheriff's Office: 282 for 2023, 472 for 2022, 312 for 2021, 554 for 2020 and 713 for 2019.
Together, the seven agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 7,774 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 7,774 in 2025 against 8,016 in 2024, down 3 percent.
Through September 2026, the six agencies with every month so far on file reported 4,308 arrests, against 5,208 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Stanly County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Stanly 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 120 people, down from about 130 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 131 beds, and it ran at 99 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 Stanly County Sheriff's Office at stanlysheriff.us/inmateList (page title: Inmates | Stanly County Sheriff’s Office NC), 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 Stanly County
Whether someone was arrested in Stanly County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the custody page of the Stanly County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Stanly 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/stanly-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 Stanly 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 Stanly County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Albemarle, Locust, Norwood, Oakboro, Badin, Stanfield or another of the cities listed above: 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 Morrow Mountain: the records office of the agency involved.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Stanly County Superior Court, through the court records page at nccourts.gov/locations/stanly-county.
- Your own statewide record: a Right to Review request, fingerprint-based, to the State Bureau of Investigation.
Cities in Stanly County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for seven of the ten cities in Stanly County: Albemarle, Locust, Norwood, Oakboro, Badin, Stanfield and Misenheimer. Red Cross, New London and Richfield 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 Stanly County Superior Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Stanly 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 Stanly County each year?
Norwood reported 1,153 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the seven agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 7,774 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Stanly County?
Look on the custody page of the Stanly County Sheriff's Office at stanlysheriff.us/inmateList. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Stanly County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Stanly County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Stanly County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Stanly 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 Stanly County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Stanly 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 Stanly 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.