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.
Dillon County, South Carolina, has about 28,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Dillon County Sheriff's Office, three 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 Dillon 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: Dillon County public records, South Carolina arrest records, South Carolina inmate search and South Carolina criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Dillon County
The Dillon County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Dillon County. It reported 502 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists three cities in Dillon County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Dillon, 6,244 residents: 480 arrests reported for 2024.
- Latta, 1,242 residents: 23 arrests reported for 2025.
- Lake View, 759 residents: 15 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 FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Dillon County: the Dillon County Forestry Commission, the Department of Natural Resources in Dillon County, Dillon County South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, the Department of Health and Environmental Control Drug Control in Dillon County and one more (state agency); the Highway Patrol in Dillon County (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Dillon 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.
- Dillon County Sheriff's Office: 502 for 2025, 568 for 2024, 545 for 2023, 579 for 2022, 353 for 2021 and 222 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
- Latta: 23 for 2025, 55 for 2024, 54 for 2023, 24 for 2022, 50 for 2021 and 98 for 2020.
- Lake View: 15 for 2025, 11 for 2024, 38 for 2023, 29 for 2022, 24 for 2021 and 21 for 2020.
- Dillon: 480 for 2024, 587 for 2022 and 589 for 2021; 2023 is missing months.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 540 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 540 in 2025 against 634 in 2024, down 15 percent.
Through July 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 249 arrests, against 336 in the same months of 2025.
Dillon reported only part of 2025 (10 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Dillon County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Dillon 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 2019 the jail held about 98 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 200 beds, and it ran at 49 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
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 Dillon County
For Dillon County the place to look is the case index of the Dillon 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/dillon, phone (843) 774-1425).
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 Dillon 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 Dillon County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Dillon, Latta or Lake View: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by the Dillon County Forestry Commission, the Department of Natural Resources in Dillon County or the Highway Patrol in Dillon County: the records office of the agency involved.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Dillon County Circuit Court, through the court records page at sccourts.org/courts/courthouse-search/dillon, phone (843) 774-1425.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Dillon County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the three cities in Dillon County: Dillon, Latta and Lake View.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Dillon County Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Dillon County each year?
The Dillon County Sheriff's Office reported 502 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 540 between them.
Where are people arrested in Dillon County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Dillon County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Dillon 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 Dillon County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Dillon 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 Dillon 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.