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.
Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, in Beaufort County, has about 38,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). In South Carolina the public criminal record is the court file, kept by the Clerk of Court; the statewide criminal history kept by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is open to anyone who asks. This guide says where each record of a criminal case from Hilton Head Island is kept and how it is seen.
This guide covers the court file, the statewide record, local arrest records, sex offender registry, records requests, directory links and common questions.
Related guides: Hilton Head Island public records, Beaufort County criminal records, Hilton Head Island arrest records, Hilton Head Island warrants, Hilton Head Island inmate search, Hilton Head Island court records, South Carolina arrest records and South Carolina inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Beaufort County Circuit Court
In South Carolina the public criminal record is the court file. Criminal cases from Hilton Head Island are heard by the Beaufort County Circuit Court, which hears felonies in the Court of General Sessions and civil cases over $7,500 in the Court of Common Pleas; the Magistrate Court takes misdemeanors, traffic cases and civil cases up to $7,500, and the file of each case is kept by the Clerk of Court.
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at beaufortcountysc.gov/clerk-of-court/index.html (page title: Clerk of Court), phone (843) 255-5710, 102 Ribaut Road Suite 208 Beaufort, SC 29902, Monday- Friday 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
South Carolina has no single public index of every trial court case; each court's records are looked up through that court.
The South Carolina Criminal History and Your Own Copy
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. The result is the repository record, what agencies reported to the state, which is wider than one county's court index but can lag it. The search is on the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division site.
Arrest Records Kept Locally in Hilton Head Island
The Beaufort County Sheriff's Office and the agencies that report for Bluffton, Port Royal and Beaufort keep the arrest records in and around Hilton Head Island: the report and the booking record of each arrest stay with the agency that made it, separate from the court file and from the state repository.
The FBI's agency list also places one state police unit, five state agencies and one campus police department in Beaufort County (the arrest records guide names each one); each keeps the records of its own arrests.
The Hardeeville Police Department and the Yemassee Police Department are each listed by the FBI across several counties including Beaufort County, so their arrests are not broken out for Beaufort County here.
Together, the three agencies in Beaufort County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 2,559 arrests to the FBI that year; how each case ended is in the court file, not in the arresting agency's.
The agencies and their counts, year by year, are in Hilton Head Island arrest records.
The Sex Offender Registry for Hilton Head Island
Registered sex offenders living in Hilton Head Island are listed on the South Carolina Sex Offender Registry, run by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division at scor.sled.sc.gov/ConditionsOfUse.Aspx. The registry is public and can be searched online; the county sheriff registers them.
Registration itself is done in person with the local agency where the registrant lives: the sheriff's office, or the city police in a city with its own department.
Asking an Agency in Beaufort County for a Record
An arrest report, a booking record or a local criminal history letter comes from the agency that holds it, not from the court.
Under the South Carolina Freedom of Information Act a county office must answer a request 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.
More Official Criminal Records Pages for Beaufort County
The SearchSystems directory, online since 1997, lists the official pages for Beaufort County and South Carolina. These criminal records pages from its Beaufort County listing were opened again on October 2, 2026 and each one still answers:
- Sex Offenders (beaufort.scor.sled.sc.gov)
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Hilton Head Island?
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.
Can I search Hilton Head Island criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at beaufortcountysc.gov (page title: Clerk of Court).
How do I get my own South Carolina criminal history?
Through the same CATCH search, run on yourself.
Is this the official Hilton Head Island 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.