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.
Laurens County, South Carolina, has about 71,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Laurens County Sheriff's Office, two 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 Laurens 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: Laurens County public records, South Carolina arrest records, South Carolina inmate search and South Carolina criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Laurens County
The Laurens County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Laurens County. It reported 1,228 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside two of the county's cities are reported to the FBI by an agency of the city's own, listed here with the Census population and what each reported:
- Laurens, 9,352 residents: 458 arrests reported for 2025.
- Clinton, 7,852 residents: 506 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 Fountain Inn Police Department is listed by the FBI across two counties including Laurens County, so its arrests are not broken out for Laurens County here.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Laurens County: the Department of Health and Environmental Control Drug Control at Laurens, Laurens County South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, the Laurens County Forestry Commission, the Department of Natural Resources in Laurens County and one more (state agency); Presbyterian College (campus police); the Highway Patrol in Laurens County (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Laurens 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.
- Laurens County Sheriff's Office: 1,228 for 2025, 1,004 for 2024, 1,234 for 2023, 1,260 for 2022, 1,222 for 2021 and 1,569 for 2020.
- Clinton: 506 for 2025, 452 for 2024, 527 for 2023, 552 for 2022, 523 for 2021 and 496 for 2020.
- Laurens: 458 for 2025, 453 for 2024, 611 for 2023 and 679 for 2019; 2020, 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 2,192 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 2,192 in 2025 against 1,909 in 2024, up 15 percent.
Through July 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 1,386 arrests, against 1,285 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Laurens County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Laurens 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 170 people, down from about 250 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 272 beds, and it ran at 92 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 Laurens County Sheriff's Office at laurenscountysheriff.org/inmate-search (page title: INMATE SEARCH | laurenscountysheriff), 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 Laurens County
An arrest in Laurens County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Laurens County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Laurens 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/laurens, phone (864) 984-3538).
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 Laurens 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 Laurens County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Laurens or Clinton: 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 the Department of Health and Environmental Control Drug Control at Laurens, Presbyterian College or Laurens County South Carolina Law Enforcement Division: the records office of the agency involved.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Laurens County Circuit Court, through the court records page at sccourts.org/courts/courthouse-search/laurens, phone (864) 984-3538.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at laurenscountysc.gov (page title: Public Records Request | FOIA Request Form).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Laurens County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for two of the five cities in Laurens County: Laurens and Clinton. Gray Court, Cross Hill and Waterloo 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 Laurens County Circuit Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Laurens County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Clinton (7,852)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Laurens County each year?
The Laurens County Sheriff's Office reported 1,228 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 2,192 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Laurens County?
Look on the custody page of the Laurens County Sheriff's Office at laurenscountysheriff.org/inmate-search. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Laurens County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Laurens County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Laurens 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 Laurens County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Laurens 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 laurenscountysc.gov.
Is this the official Laurens 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.