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 October 2, 2026.
Florence County, South Carolina, has about 138,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Florence County Sheriff's Office, nine city agencies and eight 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 Florence 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: Florence County public records, South Carolina arrest records, South Carolina inmate search and South Carolina criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Florence County
The Florence County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Florence County. It reported 2,015 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists nine cities in Florence County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Florence, 40,923 residents: 2,488 arrests reported for 2025.
- Lake City, 5,916 residents: 439 arrests reported for 2025.
- Timmonsville, 2,117 residents: 52 arrests reported for 2025.
- Johnsonville, 1,350 residents: 19 arrests reported for 2024.
- Pamplico, 1,061 residents: 17 arrests reported for 2025.
- Quinby, 895 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2025.
- Coward, 715 residents: 2 arrests reported for 2025.
- Scranton, 656 residents: 63 arrests reported for 2020.
- Olanta, 550 residents: 1 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 Florence County: Florence Regional Airport (other); the Florence County State Transport Police, the Department of Health and Environmental Control Drug Control in Florence County, Florence County South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, the Florence County Forestry Commission and one more (state agency); the Highway Patrol in Florence County (state police); Francis Marion University (campus police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Florence 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.
- Florence: 2,488 for 2025, 1,777 for 2024, 2,100 for 2023, 1,969 for 2022, 1,989 for 2021 and 1,777 for 2020.
- Florence County Sheriff's Office: 2,015 for 2025, 2,100 for 2024, 2,091 for 2023, 1,621 for 2022, 1,789 for 2021 and 1,682 for 2020.
- Lake City: 439 for 2025, 433 for 2024, 353 for 2023, 253 for 2022, 227 for 2021 and 488 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
- Timmonsville: 52 for 2025, 38 for 2024, 46 for 2023, 37 for 2022, 51 for 2021 and 29 for 2020.
- Pamplico: 17 for 2025, 5 for 2024, 9 for 2023, 43 for 2022, 25 for 2021 and 8 for 2020.
- Coward: 2 for 2025, 1 for 2022, 7 for 2021, 4 for 2020 and 6 for 2019; 2023 and 2024 are missing months.
- Quinby: 0 for 2025, 0 for 2024, 0 for 2022, 0 for 2021, 0 for 2020 and 0 for 2019; 2023 is missing months.
- Scranton: 63 for 2020 and 44 for 2019.
- Johnsonville: 19 for 2024, 32 for 2022, 52 for 2021, 47 for 2020 and 29 for 2019; 2023 is missing months.
- Olanta: 1 for 2024, 0 for 2022 and 1 for 2021; 2023 is missing months.
Together, the seven agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 5,013 arrests that year. The five of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 2,523 in 2025 against 2,576 in 2024, down 2.1 percent.
Through July 2026, the six agencies with every month so far on file reported 2,739 arrests, against 2,735 in the same months of 2025.
Johnsonville, Olanta and Scranton reported only part of 2025 (11 months, 9 months and 11 months) and are left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Florence County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Florence 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 2023 the jail held about 460 people, up from about 340 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 663 beds, and it ran at 69 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 Florence County Sheriff's Office at fcso.org/inmateSearch (page title: Inmate Search | Florence County Sheriff's Office, SC), 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 sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the South Carolina Department of Corrections lists its inmates at doc.sc.gov/inmate-search-disclaimer.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Florence County
An arrest in Florence County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Florence County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the Solicitor, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at florencecountysc.gov/offices/elected/solicitor.php).
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 Florence County
An arrest report belongs to the agency whose officer wrote it, and that agency releases it, not the court or the jail. 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 Florence County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Florence, Lake City, Timmonsville, Johnsonville, Pamplico, Quinby or another of the cities listed above: 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 Florence Regional Airport, the Florence County State Transport Police or the Department of Health and Environmental Control Drug Control in Florence County: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Solicitor handles discovery for pending cases.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at florencecountysc.gov/foia.php (page title: Florence County SC).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Florence County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the nine cities in Florence County: Florence, Lake City, Timmonsville, Johnsonville, Pamplico, Quinby, Coward, Scranton and Olanta.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Florence County Circuit Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Florence County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Lake City (5,916)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Florence County each year?
Florence reported 2,488 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the seven agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 5,013 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Florence County?
Look on the custody page of the Florence County Sheriff's Office at fcso.org/inmateSearch. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Florence County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Florence County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Florence 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 Florence County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Florence 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; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at florencecountysc.gov/foia.php.
Is this the official Florence 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.