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.
Greenwood County, South Carolina, has about 70,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Greenwood County Sheriff's Office, three city agencies and seven 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 Greenwood 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: Greenwood County public records, South Carolina arrest records, South Carolina inmate search and South Carolina criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Greenwood County
The Greenwood County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Greenwood County. It reported 1,146 arrests for 2024, its latest complete year.
The FBI lists three cities in Greenwood County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Greenwood, 22,667 residents: 1,746 arrests reported for 2025.
- Ninety Six, 2,075 residents: 80 arrests reported for 2025.
- Ware Shoals, 1,716 residents: 69 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 Greenwood County: the Greenwood County State Transport Police, the Department of Health and Environmental Control Drug Control in Greenwood County, Greenwood County South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, the Greenwood County Forestry Commission and one more (state agency); Lander University (campus police); the Highway Patrol in Greenwood County (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Greenwood County
Each agency reports its arrests to the FBI by month, and the FBI publishes them 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.
- Greenwood: 1,746 for 2025, 2,186 for 2024, 2,348 for 2023, 1,943 for 2022, 1,888 for 2021 and 1,983 for 2020.
- Greenwood County Sheriff's Office: 1,146 for 2024, 791 for 2023 and 831 for 2022.
- Ware Shoals: 69 for 2024 and 81 for 2021; 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
- Ninety Six: 80 for 2025, 39 for 2024, 49 for 2023, 49 for 2022, 32 for 2021 and 85 for 2020.
Together, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2024 on file reported 3,440 arrests that year. The two of them with both 2024 and 2023 complete reported 2,225 in 2024 against 2,397 in 2023, down 7.2 percent.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Greenwood County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Greenwood 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 180 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 260 beds, and it ran at 71 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 Greenwood County Sheriff's Office at greenwoodcounty-sc.gov/detention-center (page title: Detention Center | Greenwood County, SC), phone (864) 943-8059, 528 Edgefield Street Greenwood, SC 29646, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
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 Greenwood County
For Greenwood County the place to look is the Solicitor, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at sccourts.org/courts/court-officials/solicitors).
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 Greenwood 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 Greenwood County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (864) 943-8059.
- An arrest in Greenwood, Ninety Six or Ware Shoals: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by the Greenwood County State Transport Police, Lander University or the Department of Health and Environmental Control Drug Control in Greenwood 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 greenwoodcountysc.nextrequest.com (page title: Request Public RecordsNextRequest | Modern FOIA & Public Records Request Software).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Greenwood County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for three of the five cities in Greenwood County: Greenwood, Ninety Six and Ware Shoals. Hodges and Troy have no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Greenwood County Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Greenwood County each year?
Greenwood reported 1,746 arrests to the FBI for 2025. For 2024, the latest year most of the agencies in Greenwood County sent in full, the four with every month on file reported 3,440 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Greenwood County?
Ask the Greenwood County Sheriff's Office at (864) 943-8059; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at greenwoodcounty-sc.gov/detention-center.
Where are people arrested in Greenwood County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Greenwood County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Greenwood 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 Greenwood County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Greenwood 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 greenwoodcountysc.nextrequest.com.
Is this the official Greenwood 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.