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.
Port Royal, South Carolina, in Beaufort County, has about 17,000 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 Beaufort 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: Port Royal public records, Beaufort County arrest records, South Carolina arrest records and South Carolina inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Port Royal
The FBI lists Port Royal with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Port Royal Police Department. It reported 294 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 Beaufort County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 1,935 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Beaufort County: the Highway Patrol in Beaufort County (state police); the Department of Natural Resources in Beaufort County, the Beaufort County Forestry Commission, Beaufort County South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, the Department of Health and Environmental Control Drug Control in Beaufort County and one more (state agency); the University of South Carolina at Beaufort (campus police).
How Many Arrests Port Royal 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.
- Port Royal: 294 for 2025, 340 for 2024, 282 for 2023, 293 for 2022, 332 for 2021 and 322 for 2020.
Port Royal's 294 arrests in 2025 were down 14 percent from 340 in 2024.
Through July 2026, Port Royal reported 167 arrests, against 195 in the same months of 2025.
Across Beaufort County, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 2,559 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Port Royal Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Port Royal 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 2021 the jail held about 120 people, down from about 340 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 181 beds, and it ran at 187 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 Beaufort County Sheriff's Office at beaufortcountysc.gov/detention-center/inmate-inquiry-system.html (page title: Inmate Inquiry System), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
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 Port Royal
For Port Royal the place to look is the case index of the Beaufort County Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at beaufortcountysc.gov/clerk-of-court/index.html, phone (843) 255-5710).
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 Port Royal
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 Port Royal police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at portroyal.org/285/Submit-a-Police-Report (page title: Submit a Police Report | Port Royal, SC), phone 866-925-1961, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Beaufort County Circuit Court, through the court records page at beaufortcountysc.gov, phone (843) 255-5710.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The Beaufort County guide covers every agency in the county: Beaufort County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Port Royal each year?
Port Royal reported 294 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Port Royal?
Ask the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at beaufortcountysc.gov.
Where are people arrested in Port Royal booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Port Royal?
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 Port Royal?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Port Royal police for its own arrests, the Beaufort 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 Port Royal 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.