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.
Warren County, North Carolina, has about 19,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Warren 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 Warren 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: Warren County public records, North Carolina arrest records, North Carolina inmate search and North Carolina criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Warren County
The Warren County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Warren County. It reported 254 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists two cities in Warren County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Norlina, 930 residents: 1,153 arrests reported for 2025.
- Warrenton, 834 residents: 13 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 Warren 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.
- Norlina: 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.
- Warren County Sheriff's Office: 254 for 2025, 309 for 2024, 274 for 2023, 142 for 2022, 154 for 2021 and 142 for 2020.
- Warrenton: 13 for 2025, 15 for 2024, 40 for 2023, 38 for 2022, 38 for 2021 and 20 for 2020.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,420 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 1,420 in 2025 against 1,487 in 2024, down 4.5 percent.
Through April 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 447 arrests, against 477 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Warren County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Warren 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 37 people, up from about 25 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 37 beds, and it ran at 68 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 Warren County Sheriff's Office at warrencountync.com/315/Sheriff (page title: Sheriff | Warren County, NC), phone 252-257-3456, 132 Rafters Lane Warrenton, NC 27589, 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 Warren County
An arrest in Warren County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Warren 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/warren-county); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at nccourts.gov/taxonomy/term/557).
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 Warren 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 Warren County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 252-257-3456.
- An arrest in Norlina or Warrenton: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Warren County Superior Court, through the court records page at nccourts.gov/locations/warren-county.
- Your own statewide record: a Right to Review request, fingerprint-based, to the State Bureau of Investigation.
Cities in Warren County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for two of the three cities in Warren County: Norlina and Warrenton. Macon has 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 Warren County Superior Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Warren County each year?
Norlina reported 1,153 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 1,420 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Warren County?
Ask the Warren County Sheriff's Office at 252-257-3456; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at warrencountync.com/315/Sheriff.
Where are people arrested in Warren County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Warren County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Warren County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Warren 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 Warren County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Warren 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 Warren 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.