Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones the agency reported to the FBI, through 2025. 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 24, 2026 and September 26, 2026.
Columbia, South Carolina, in Richland County, has about 145,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and its arrests are reported to the FBI by an agency of its own. An arrest in the city leaves the same records whoever makes it: the arresting agency's report, the record of anyone held at the county jail, and, if the Solicitor files charges, a case in the Richland County Circuit Court. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts the agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies and common questions.
Related guides: Columbia public records, Richland County arrest records, South Carolina arrest records and South Carolina inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Columbia
The FBI lists Columbia with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Columbia Police Department. It reported 2,628 arrests for 2025. A city is listed separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
Outside the city, the Richland County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 2,479 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Richland County: the Department of Natural Resources in Richland County, the Department of Mental Health, the State Museum, the Richland County State Transport Police and three more (state agency); the University of South Carolina at Columbia, Columbia College and Benedict College (campus police); Norfolk Southern Railway (other); the Highway Patrol in Richland County (state police).
How Many Arrests Columbia Reports
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.
- Columbia: 2,628 for 2025, 2,350 for 2024, 2,010 for 2023, 1,226 for 2021, 2,248 for 2020 and 4,213 for 2019; 2022 is missing months.
Columbia's 2,628 arrests in 2025 were up 12 percent from 2,350 in 2024.
Through July 2026, Columbia reported 1,301 arrests, against 1,412 in the same months of 2025.
Across Richland County, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 5,800 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Columbia Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Columbia 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 2023 the jail held about 800 people, down from about 810 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 1,022 beds, and it ran at 78 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
A person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the South Carolina Department of Corrections, whose inmate locator is at doc.sc.gov/inmate-search-disclaimer.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Columbia
For Columbia the place to look is the case index of the Richland County Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at sccourts.org/courts/courthouse-search/richland, phone (803) 576-1950).
South Carolina is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: the CATCH service lets anyone run a name-based criminal record search online, for $25 a search, through the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division. That record shows what agencies reported to the state, which is wider than one county's court index but can lag it.
Getting a Copy of an Arrest Record in Columbia
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 South Carolina Freedom of Information Act the agency must answer within 10 business days, or 20 for records more than two years old, and it may charge search, retrieval and copying at the agency's actual cost.
- An arrest by the Columbia police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at columbiapd.net/submit-a-police-report (page title: Submit a Police Report | City of Columbia Police Department), phone (803) 252-2911, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Richland County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Richland County Circuit Court, through the court records page at sccourts.org, phone (803) 576-1950.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The Richland County guide covers every agency in the county: Richland County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Columbia each year?
Columbia reported 2,628 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
Where are people arrested in Columbia booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Richland County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Columbia?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division: the CATCH service lets anyone run a name-based criminal record search online, for $25. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the South Carolina Freedom of Information Act.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Columbia?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Columbia police for its own arrests, the Richland County Sheriff's Office for the sheriff's. Under the South Carolina Freedom of Information Act the answer is due within 10 business days, or 20 for records more than two years old.
Is this the official Columbia website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official city, county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.