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.
Berkeley County, South Carolina, has about 264,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). A traffic ticket written in Berkeley County is a court case in the Magistrate Court; a city with a municipal court tries its own, and the conviction it ends in goes on the driving record kept by the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles. This guide says which court takes the ticket, who writes them and where the driving record lives.
This guide covers where tickets go, who writes them, the driving record, cities and common questions.
Related guides: Berkeley County public records, Berkeley County arrest records, Berkeley County warrants, Berkeley County inmate search, Berkeley County criminal records, South Carolina arrest records and South Carolina inmate search.
Where a Ticket Written in Berkeley County Goes
Tickets in Berkeley County are split by who wrote them: the Magistrate Court for deputies and troopers, the municipal courts for city officers in the cities that run one. A paid ticket, a dismissal and a trial all end up in that court's records.
South Carolina has no single public index of every trial court case; each court's records are looked up through that court.
Who Writes the Tickets in Berkeley County
The Berkeley County Sheriff's Office and the agencies that report for Goose Creek, Hanahan, Moncks Corner, St. Stephen and Jamestown write the traffic tickets in Berkeley County.
The FBI's agency list also places six state agencies and one state police unit in Berkeley County (the arrest records guide names each one); the Highway Patrol in Berkeley County writes the tickets on the state highways.
The Charleston Police Department and the Summerville Police Department are each listed by the FBI across several counties including Berkeley County, so their arrests are not broken out for Berkeley County here.
The Driving Record and the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles
The driving record is a separate document from the court file. It is kept by the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles, which adds each conviction the court reports and handles suspensions; the court does not issue driving records.
Paying a ticket is a conviction, reported to the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles like any other; contesting it means a plea of not guilty entered with the court by the date on the ticket.
A DUI is a criminal charge rather than a ticket, with its own license case before the Department of Motor Vehicles (see Berkeley County DUI).
Cities in Berkeley County
A ticket written inside a city goes to the Magistrate Court, or to the city's municipal court where it has one.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Berkeley County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own traffic tickets guide opens there:
- Goose Creek (50,352)
- Hanahan (21,983)
- Moncks Corner (18,359)
Frequently Asked Questions
Where do I pay a traffic ticket from Berkeley County?
With the Magistrate Court; a ticket from city police goes to the city's municipal court where it has one.
Who keeps my driving record in South Carolina?
The South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles. The court reports each conviction to it, and paying a ticket counts as one.
Which court handles traffic tickets in Berkeley County?
The Magistrate Court, which takes misdemeanors, traffic cases and civil cases up to $7,500. A city with a municipal court of its own tries the tickets under its ordinances.
Is this the official Berkeley 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.