SearchSystems Editorial

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.

About this guide

Horry County, South Carolina, has about 413,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Horry County Sheriff's Office, one other county agency, eight 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 Horry 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: Horry County public records, South Carolina arrest records, South Carolina inmate search and South Carolina criminal records.

Who Makes Arrests in Horry County

The Horry County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Horry County. It reported 137 arrests for 2025.

The Horry County Police Department also reports arrests to the FBI as another county agency of Horry County.

The FBI lists eight cities in Horry County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:

  • Myrtle Beach, 40,535 residents: 8,184 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Conway, 29,656 residents: 1,300 arrests reported for 2025.
  • North Myrtle Beach, 20,798 residents: 1,661 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Surfside Beach, 4,368 residents: 204 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Loris, 2,825 residents: 205 arrests reported for 2024.
  • Aynor, 1,063 residents: 49 arrests reported for 2024.
  • Briarcliffe Acres, 568 residents: 1,152 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Atlantic Beach, 418 residents: 55 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 Horry County: Horry County South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, the Horry County Forestry Commission, the Department of Natural Resources in Horry County, the Horry County State Transport Police and one more (state agency); the Highway Patrol in Horry County (state police); Coastal Carolina University (campus police).

How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Horry 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.

  • Myrtle Beach: 8,184 for 2025, 7,897 for 2024, 7,623 for 2023, 7,884 for 2022, 8,174 for 2021 and 8,923 for 2020.
  • Horry County Police Department: 4,116 for 2025, 4,426 for 2024, 3,904 for 2023, 3,852 for 2022, 3,728 for 2021 and 3,978 for 2020.
  • North Myrtle Beach: 1,661 for 2025, 1,666 for 2024, 1,894 for 2023, 1,718 for 2022, 1,594 for 2021 and 1,321 for 2020.
  • Conway: 1,300 for 2025, 1,369 for 2024, 1,406 for 2023, 1,332 for 2022, 1,284 for 2021 and 1,219 for 2020.
  • Briarcliffe Acres: 1,152 for 2025, 1,188 for 2024, 1,188 for 2023, 1,188 for 2022, 1,188 for 2021 and 1,188 for 2020.
  • Surfside Beach: 204 for 2025, 202 for 2024, 261 for 2023, 347 for 2022 and 313 for 2021.
  • Horry County Sheriff's Office: 137 for 2025, 125 for 2024, 114 for 2023, 122 for 2022, 200 for 2021 and 128 for 2020.
  • Loris: 205 for 2024, 301 for 2023, 277 for 2022, 254 for 2021, 211 for 2020 and 353 for 2019.
  • Atlantic Beach: 55 for 2024, 75 for 2023, 68 for 2021, 78 for 2020 and 102 for 2019; 2022 is missing months.
  • Aynor: 49 for 2024, 37 for 2023, 30 for 2021, 40 for 2020 and 43 for 2019; 2022 is missing months.

Together, the seven agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 16,754 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 16,754 in 2025 against 16,873 in 2024, down 0.7 percent.

Through July 2026, the six agencies with every month so far on file reported 10,707 arrests, against 10,196 in the same months of 2025.

Aynor, Atlantic Beach and Loris reported only part of 2025 (11 months, 7 months and 11 months) and are left out of the totals.

Booking: Where People Arrested in Horry County Are Held

A person kept in custody after an arrest in Horry 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 2023 the jail held about 770 people, down from about 770 in 2018. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 1,034 beds, and it ran at 74 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 Horry County Sheriff's Office at horrycountysc.gov/departments/sheriffs-office/detention-center/book... (page title: Booking & Releases | Horry County SC.Gov), phone 843-915-6911, 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 Horry County

Whether someone was arrested in Horry County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the custody page of the Horry 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 horrycountysc.gov/departments/solicitor, phone (843) 915-5460).

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 Horry 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 Horry County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 843-915-6911.
  • An arrest in Myrtle Beach, Conway, North Myrtle Beach, Surfside Beach, Loris, Aynor 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 Horry County South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, the Horry County Forestry Commission or the Department of Natural Resources in Horry County: the records office of the agency involved.
  • A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Solicitor, (843) 915-5460, handles discovery for pending cases.
  • Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.

Cities in Horry County: Who Reports the Arrests

The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the eight cities in Horry County: Myrtle Beach, Conway, North Myrtle Beach, Surfside Beach, Loris, Aynor, Briarcliffe Acres and Atlantic Beach.

Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Horry County Circuit Court.

SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Horry County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:

Frequently Asked Questions

How many arrests are made in Horry County each year?

Myrtle Beach reported 8,184 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the seven agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 16,754 between them.

How do I find out if someone is in jail in Horry County?

Look on the custody page of the Horry County Sheriff's Office at horrycountysc.gov, or call 843-915-6911. It covers people booked into the county jail.

Where are people arrested in Horry County booked?

Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Horry County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.

Are arrest records public in Horry 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 Horry County?

From the agency that made the arrest: the Horry 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 Horry 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.