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 2024. 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 28, 2026.
Gaffney, South Carolina, in Cherokee County, has about 13,000 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 Cherokee 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: Gaffney public records, Cherokee County arrest records, South Carolina arrest records and South Carolina inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Gaffney
The FBI lists Gaffney with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Gaffney Police Department. It reported 468 arrests for 2024, its latest complete year. 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 Cherokee County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 1,203 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Cherokee County: the Cherokee County Forestry Commission, the Department of Natural Resources in Cherokee County, the Department of Health and Environmental Control Drug Control at Cherokee, Cherokee County South Carolina Law Enforcement Division and one more (state agency); the Highway Patrol in Cherokee County (state police).
How Many Arrests Gaffney Reports
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.
- Gaffney: 468 for 2024, 325 for 2023, 511 for 2022, 380 for 2021, 446 for 2020 and 647 for 2019.
Gaffney's 468 arrests in 2024 were up 44 percent from 325 in 2023.
Across Cherokee County, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,250 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Gaffney Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Gaffney 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 2021 the jail held about 280 people, up from about 260 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2021 was 150 beds, and it ran at 190 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 Cherokee County Sheriff's Office at cherokeecountysc.gov/sheriffs-office-detention-center (page title: Sheriff’s Office | Detention Center | Cherokee County), phone 864-489-4722, 312 E. Frederick St. Gaffney, SC 29340, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 28, 2026.
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 Gaffney
For Gaffney the place to look is the Solicitor, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at cherokeecountysc.gov/solicitor, phone 864-487-2576).
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 Gaffney
An arrest report belongs to the agency whose officer wrote it, and that agency releases it, not the court or the jail. 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 Gaffney police: the police department's page SearchSystems verified at cityofgaffney-sc.gov/m/directory/department?did=12 (page title: Staff Directory, Police Department), phone 864-489-8115, 201 N Limestone Street 1st Floor Gaffney, SC 29340, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 864-489-4722.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Solicitor, 864-487-2576, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The Cherokee County guide covers every agency in the county: Cherokee County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Gaffney each year?
Gaffney reported 468 arrests to the FBI for 2024, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Gaffney?
Ask the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office at 864-489-4722; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at cherokeecountysc.gov.
Where are people arrested in Gaffney booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Gaffney?
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 Gaffney?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Gaffney police for its own arrests, the Cherokee 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 Gaffney 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.