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. 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 30, 2026.
Bamberg County, South Carolina, has about 13,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Bamberg County Sheriff's Office, three city agencies and seven campus, state or other agencies. An arrest 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 Bamberg County Circuit Court. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts each agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies, cities and common questions.
Related guides: Bamberg County public records, South Carolina arrest records, South Carolina inmate search and South Carolina criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Bamberg County
The Bamberg County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Bamberg County. It reported 65 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside three of the county's cities are reported to the FBI by an agency of the city's own, listed here with the Census population and what each reported:
- Denmark, 3,072 residents: 30 arrests reported for 2025.
- Bamberg, 2,943 residents: 130 arrests reported for 2025.
- Ehrhardt, 437 residents: 6 arrests reported for 2024.
A city on that list is reported separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Bamberg County: Denmark Technical College (campus police); the Bamberg County State Transport Police, the Department of Health and Environmental Control Drug Control at Bamberg, Bamberg County South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, the Bamberg County Forestry Commission and one more (state agency); the Highway Patrol in Bamberg County (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Bamberg County
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.
- Bamberg: 130 for 2025, 196 for 2024, 194 for 2021, 113 for 2020 and 139 for 2019; 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
- Bamberg County Sheriff's Office: 65 for 2025, 100 for 2024, 110 for 2023, 168 for 2022, 98 for 2021 and 71 for 2020.
- Denmark: 30 for 2025, 17 for 2024, 59 for 2023, 26 for 2022, 30 for 2021 and 57 for 2020.
- Ehrhardt: 6 for 2024, 5 for 2023, 4 for 2022 and 5 for 2019; 2020 and 2021 are missing months.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 225 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 225 in 2025 against 313 in 2024, down 28 percent.
Through June 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 81 arrests, against 132 in the same months of 2025.
Ehrhardt reported only part of 2025 (10 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Bamberg County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Bamberg County 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 2019 the jail held about 14 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 64 beds, and it ran at 22 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 Bamberg County Sheriff's Office at bambergcounty.sc.gov/public-safety/sheriffs-office (page title: Sheriff's Office | Bamberg County, SC), phone 803-245-3018, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 30, 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 Bamberg County
An arrest in Bamberg County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Bamberg County Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at bambergcounty.sc.gov/county-courts/clerk-court, phone (803) 245-3025); the Solicitor, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at sccourts.org/courts/court-officials/solicitors).
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 Bamberg County
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 Bamberg County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 803-245-3018.
- An arrest in Denmark, Bamberg or Ehrhardt: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by Denmark Technical College, the Bamberg County State Transport Police or the Department of Health and Environmental Control Drug Control at Bamberg: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Solicitor handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Bamberg County Circuit Court, through the court records page at bambergcounty.sc.gov, phone (803) 245-3025.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at bambergbpw.com/foia (page title: FOIA | Board of Public Works Bamberg, SC).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Bamberg County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for three of the five cities in Bamberg County: Denmark, Bamberg and Ehrhardt. Olar and Govan have no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Bamberg County Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Bamberg County each year?
Bamberg reported 130 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 225 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Bamberg County?
Ask the Bamberg County Sheriff's Office at 803-245-3018; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at bambergcounty.sc.gov.
Where are people arrested in Bamberg County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Bamberg County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Bamberg County?
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 Bamberg County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Bamberg County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. 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 bambergbpw.com/foia.
Is this the official Bamberg County website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.