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 October 2, 2026.
Lake City, South Carolina, in Florence County, has about 5,900 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 Florence 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: Lake City public records, Florence County arrest records, South Carolina arrest records and South Carolina inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Lake City
The FBI lists Lake City with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Lake City Police Department. It reported 439 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 Florence County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 2,015 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Florence County: Florence Regional Airport (other); the Florence County State Transport Police, the Department of Health and Environmental Control Drug Control in Florence County, Florence County South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, the Florence County Forestry Commission and one more (state agency); the Highway Patrol in Florence County (state police); Francis Marion University (campus police).
How Many Arrests Lake City 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.
- Lake City: 439 for 2025, 433 for 2024, 353 for 2023, 253 for 2022, 227 for 2021 and 488 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
Lake City's 439 arrests in 2025 were up 1.4 percent from 433 in 2024.
Through June 2026, Lake City reported 143 arrests, against 239 in the same months of 2025.
Across Florence County, the seven agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 5,013 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Lake City Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Lake City 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 2023 the jail held about 460 people, up from about 340 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 663 beds, and it ran at 69 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the Florence County Sheriff's Office at fcso.org/inmateSearch (page title: Inmate Search | Florence County Sheriff's Office, SC), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
That page is the place to look for someone who was booked recently; a person cited and released at the scene, or held only a few hours by a city department, will not be on it.
A sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the South Carolina Department of Corrections lists its inmates at doc.sc.gov/inmate-search-disclaimer.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Lake City
An arrest in Lake City can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Florence County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the Solicitor, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at florencecountysc.gov/offices/elected/solicitor.php).
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 Lake City
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 Lake City police: the police department's page SearchSystems verified at lakecitysc.gov/169/Police-Department (page title: Police Department | Lake City, SC), phone 843-374-5411, 202 Kelley Street Lake City, SC 29560, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Florence County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Solicitor handles discovery for pending cases.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at florencecountysc.gov/foia.php (page title: Florence County SC).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The Florence County guide covers every agency in the county: Florence County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Lake City each year?
Lake City reported 439 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Lake City?
Look on the custody page of the Florence County Sheriff's Office at fcso.org/inmateSearch. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Lake City booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Florence County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Lake City?
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 Lake City?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Lake City police for its own arrests, the Florence 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; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at florencecountysc.gov/foia.php.
Is this the official Lake City 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.