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 on September 24, 2026.
Beaufort County, South Carolina, has about 202,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Beaufort 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 Beaufort 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: Beaufort County public records, South Carolina arrest records, South Carolina inmate search and South Carolina criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Beaufort County
The Beaufort County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Beaufort County. It reported 1,935 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:
- Bluffton, 36,146 residents: 330 arrests reported for 2025.
- Port Royal, 16,507 residents: 294 arrests reported for 2025.
- Beaufort, 14,334 residents: 546 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 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.
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 Each Agency Reports in Beaufort County
The FBI publishes every agency's monthly arrest counts 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.
- Beaufort County Sheriff's Office: 1,935 for 2025, 2,066 for 2024, 2,018 for 2023, 1,858 for 2022, 1,902 for 2021 and 2,334 for 2020.
- Bluffton: 330 for 2025, 289 for 2024, 230 for 2023, 215 for 2022, 238 for 2021 and 223 for 2020.
- Port Royal: 294 for 2025, 340 for 2024, 282 for 2023, 293 for 2022, 332 for 2021 and 322 for 2020.
- Beaufort: 546 for 2024, 503 for 2023, 456 for 2021, 485 for 2020 and 651 for 2019; 2022 is missing months.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 2,559 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 2,559 in 2025 against 2,695 in 2024, down 5 percent.
Through July 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 1,332 arrests, against 1,681 in the same months of 2025.
Beaufort reported only part of 2025 (11 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Beaufort County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Beaufort County 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 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 Beaufort County
For Beaufort County 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 Beaufort County
The report of an arrest is released by the agency that made it; the jail and the court hold their own records of the same event, but not the report. 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 Beaufort County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Bluffton, Port Royal or Beaufort: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- An arrest by the Highway Patrol in Beaufort County, the Department of Natural Resources in Beaufort County or the Beaufort County Forestry Commission: the records office of the agency involved.
- 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 other Beaufort County guides go further: warrants, inmate search, criminal records, court records, police reports, traffic tickets, DUI, divorce records and property records.
Cities in Beaufort County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for three of the four cities in Beaufort County: Bluffton, Port Royal and Beaufort. Hilton Head Island has 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 Beaufort County Circuit Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Beaufort County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Hilton Head Island (38,158)
- Port Royal (16,507)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Beaufort County each year?
The Beaufort County Sheriff's Office reported 1,935 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 2,559 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Beaufort County?
Ask the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at beaufortcountysc.gov.
Where are people arrested in Beaufort County 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 Beaufort 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 Beaufort County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Beaufort 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.
Is this the official Beaufort 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.