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 September 30, 2026.
Kershaw County, South Carolina, has about 72,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Kershaw County Sheriff's Office, two 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 Kershaw 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: Kershaw County public records, South Carolina arrest records, South Carolina inmate search and South Carolina criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Kershaw County
The Kershaw County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Kershaw County. It reported 1,242 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists two cities in Kershaw County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Camden, 8,899 residents: 492 arrests reported for 2025.
- Elgin, 1,657 residents: 116 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 Kershaw County: the Kershaw County State Transport Police, the Department of Health and Environmental Control Drug Control in Kershaw County, Kershaw County South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, the Kershaw County Forestry Commission and one more (state agency); the Highway Patrol in Kershaw County (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Kershaw 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.
- Kershaw County Sheriff's Office: 1,242 for 2025, 897 for 2024, 923 for 2023, 1,105 for 2022, 1,044 for 2021 and 1,299 for 2020.
- Camden: 492 for 2025, 419 for 2024, 473 for 2023, 451 for 2022, 508 for 2021 and 500 for 2020.
- Elgin: 116 for 2025, 306 for 2024, 378 for 2023, 344 for 2022, 326 for 2021 and 209 for 2020.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,850 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 1,850 in 2025 against 1,622 in 2024, up 14 percent.
Through June 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 931 arrests, against 902 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Kershaw County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Kershaw 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 110 people, down from about 110 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 89 beds, and it ran at 122 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 Kershaw County Sheriff's Office at kershaw.sc.gov/services/facility-locations/sheriff-s-office (page title: Sheriff's Office | Kershaw County, SC), phone (803) 425-1512, 821 Ridgeway Road Lugoff, SC 29078, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 30, 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 Kershaw County
Whether someone was arrested in Kershaw County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Kershaw County Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at kershaw.sc.gov/government/departments-a-g/clerk-of-court/court-records); the Solicitor, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at kershaw.sc.gov/departments/elected-officials/solicitor).
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 Kershaw 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 Kershaw County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (803) 425-1512.
- An arrest in Camden or Elgin: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by the Kershaw County State Transport Police, the Department of Health and Environmental Control Drug Control in Kershaw County or Kershaw County South Carolina Law Enforcement Division: 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.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Kershaw County Circuit Court, through the court records page at kershaw.sc.gov.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Kershaw County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for two of the three cities in Kershaw County: Camden and Elgin. Bethune has 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 Kershaw County Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Kershaw County each year?
The Kershaw County Sheriff's Office reported 1,242 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 1,850 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Kershaw County?
Ask the Kershaw County Sheriff's Office at (803) 425-1512; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at kershaw.sc.gov.
Where are people arrested in Kershaw County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Kershaw County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Kershaw 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 Kershaw County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Kershaw 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 Kershaw 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.