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. 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). A traffic ticket written in Columbia is a court case in the Magistrate Court; a city with a municipal court tries its own, and the conviction it ends in goes on the driving record kept by the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles. This guide says which court takes the ticket, who writes them and where the driving record lives.
This guide covers where tickets go, who writes them, the driving record and common questions.
Related guides: Columbia public records, Richland County traffic tickets, Columbia arrest records, Columbia warrants, Columbia criminal records, Columbia court records, South Carolina arrest records and South Carolina inmate search.
Where a Ticket Written in Columbia Goes
A ticket written by a deputy or a state trooper in Columbia goes to the Magistrate Court; one written by city police goes to that city's municipal court where it has one. Either way the ticket is a court case, and the court's index is the record of it.
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at sccourts.org/courts/courthouse-search/richland, phone (803) 576-1950.
South Carolina has no single public index of every trial court case; each court's records are looked up through that court.
Who Writes the Tickets in Columbia
The Richland County Sheriff's Office and the agency that reports for Columbia (filed by the FBI as Columbia Police Department) write the traffic tickets in and around Columbia.
The FBI's agency list also places seven state agencies, three campus police departments, one other agency and one state police unit in Richland County (the arrest records guide names each one); the Highway Patrol in Richland County writes the tickets on the state highways.
The Cayce Police Department is listed by the FBI across two counties including Richland County, so its arrests are not broken out for Richland County here.
The Driving Record and the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles
The driving record is a separate document from the court file. It is kept by the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles, which adds each conviction the court reports and handles suspensions; the court does not issue driving records.
Paying a ticket is a conviction, reported to the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles like any other; contesting it means a plea of not guilty entered with the court by the date on the ticket.
A DUI is a criminal charge rather than a ticket, with its own license case before the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where do I pay a traffic ticket from Columbia?
With the Magistrate Court; a ticket from city police goes to the city's municipal court where it has one.
Who keeps my driving record in South Carolina?
The South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles. The court reports each conviction to it, and paying a ticket counts as one.
Which court handles traffic tickets in Columbia?
The Magistrate Court, which takes misdemeanors, traffic cases and civil cases up to $7,500. A city with a municipal court of its own tries the tickets under its ordinances.
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.