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 28, 2026.
Cherokee County, South Carolina, has about 58,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office, two city agencies and six 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 Cherokee 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: Cherokee County public records, South Carolina arrest records, South Carolina inmate search and South Carolina criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Cherokee County
The Cherokee County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Cherokee County. It reported 1,203 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists two cities in Cherokee County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Gaffney, 12,546 residents: 468 arrests reported for 2024.
- Blacksburg, 1,954 residents: 47 arrests reported for 2025.
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 Chesnee Police Department is listed by the FBI across two counties including Cherokee County, so its arrests are not broken out for Cherokee County here.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Cherokee County: the Cherokee County Forestry Commission, the Department of Natural Resources in Cherokee County, the Department of Health and Environmental Control Drug Control at Cherokee, Cherokee County South Carolina Law Enforcement Division and one more (state agency); the Highway Patrol in Cherokee County (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Cherokee 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.
- Cherokee County Sheriff's Office: 1,203 for 2025, 1,251 for 2024, 1,377 for 2023, 1,535 for 2022, 1,249 for 2021 and 1,573 for 2020.
- Blacksburg: 47 for 2025, 70 for 2024, 37 for 2023, 31 for 2022, 50 for 2021 and 68 for 2020.
- Gaffney: 468 for 2024, 325 for 2023, 511 for 2022, 380 for 2021, 446 for 2020 and 647 for 2019.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,250 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 1,250 in 2025 against 1,321 in 2024, down 5.4 percent.
Through July 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 736 arrests, against 739 in the same months of 2025.
Gaffney reported only part of 2025 (11 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Cherokee County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Cherokee 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 2021 the jail held about 280 people, up from about 260 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2021 was 150 beds, and it ran at 190 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 Cherokee County Sheriff's Office at cherokeecountysc.gov/sheriffs-office-detention-center (page title: Sheriff’s Office | Detention Center | Cherokee County), phone 864-489-4722, 312 E. Frederick St. Gaffney, SC 29340, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 28, 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 Cherokee County
For Cherokee County the place to look is the Solicitor, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at cherokeecountysc.gov/solicitor, phone 864-487-2576).
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 Cherokee 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 Cherokee County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 864-489-4722.
- An arrest in Gaffney or Blacksburg: 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 Cherokee County Forestry Commission, the Department of Natural Resources in Cherokee County or the Highway Patrol in Cherokee County: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Solicitor, 864-487-2576, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Cherokee County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the two cities in Cherokee County: Gaffney and Blacksburg.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Cherokee County Circuit Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Cherokee County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Gaffney (12,546)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Cherokee County each year?
The Cherokee County Sheriff's Office reported 1,203 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 1,250 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Cherokee County?
Ask the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office at 864-489-4722; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at cherokeecountysc.gov.
Where are people arrested in Cherokee County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Cherokee 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 Cherokee County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Cherokee 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 Cherokee 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.