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.
Darlington County, South Carolina, has about 62,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Darlington County Sheriff's Office, four 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 Darlington 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: Darlington County public records, South Carolina arrest records, South Carolina inmate search and South Carolina criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Darlington County
The Darlington County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Darlington County. It reported 749 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists four cities in Darlington County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Hartsville, 7,360 residents: 829 arrests reported for 2025.
- Darlington, 6,045 residents: 344 arrests reported for 2025.
- Lamar, 851 residents: 16 arrests reported for 2024.
- Society Hill, 426 residents: 15 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 Darlington County: the Highway Patrol in Darlington County (state police); Darlington County South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, the Darlington County State Transport Police, the Department of Health and Environmental Control Drug Control in Darlington County, the Darlington County Forestry Commission and one more (state agency).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Darlington 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.
- Hartsville: 829 for 2025, 1,170 for 2024, 1,007 for 2023, 995 for 2022, 1,049 for 2021 and 1,040 for 2020.
- Darlington County Sheriff's Office: 749 for 2025, 564 for 2024, 484 for 2023, 564 for 2022, 608 for 2021 and 471 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
- Darlington: 344 for 2025, 425 for 2024, 424 for 2023, 416 for 2022 and 722 for 2019; 2020 and 2021 are missing months.
- Lamar: 16 for 2024 and 11 for 2019; 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
- Society Hill: 15 for 2024 and 1 for 2019; 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,922 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 1,922 in 2025 against 2,159 in 2024, down 11 percent.
Through July 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 1,190 arrests, against 1,194 in the same months of 2025.
Lamar and Society Hill reported only part of 2025 (11 months and 10 months) and are left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Darlington County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Darlington 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 170 people, down from about 190 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 236 beds, and it ran at 81 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the Darlington County Sheriff's Office at darlingtoncountysheriffsoffice.com/bookings-and-releases (page title: Bookings and Releases), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
That page is the place to look for someone who was booked recently; a person cited and released at the scene, or held only a few hours by a city department, will not be on it.
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 Darlington County
Whether someone was arrested in Darlington County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the custody page of the Darlington County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Darlington County Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at sccourts.org/courts/courthouse-search/darlington, phone (843) 398-4330).
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 Darlington 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 Darlington County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Hartsville, Darlington, Lamar or Society Hill: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by the Highway Patrol in Darlington County, Darlington County South Carolina Law Enforcement Division or the Darlington County State Transport Police: the records office of the agency involved.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Darlington County Circuit Court, through the court records page at sccourts.org, phone (843) 398-4330.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Darlington County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the four cities in Darlington County: Hartsville, Darlington, Lamar and Society Hill.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Darlington County Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Darlington County each year?
Hartsville reported 829 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 1,922 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Darlington County?
Look on the custody page of the Darlington County Sheriff's Office at darlingtoncountysheriffsoffice.com. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Darlington County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Darlington County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Darlington 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 Darlington County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Darlington 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 Darlington 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.