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.
Richland County, South Carolina, has about 431,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Richland County Sheriff's Office, three city agencies and 12 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 Richland 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: Richland County public records, South Carolina arrest records, South Carolina inmate search and South Carolina criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Richland County
The Richland County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Richland County. It reported 2,479 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside three 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:
- Columbia, 144,788 residents: 2,628 arrests reported for 2025.
- Irmo, 12,086 residents: 502 arrests reported for 2025.
- Forest Acres, 10,438 residents: 191 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 Cayce Police Department is listed by the FBI across two counties including Richland County, so its arrests are not broken out for Richland County here.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Richland County: the Department of Natural Resources in Richland County, the Department of Mental Health, the State Museum, the Richland County State Transport Police and three more (state agency); the University of South Carolina at Columbia, Columbia College and Benedict College (campus police); Norfolk Southern Railway (other); the Highway Patrol in Richland County (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Richland 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.
- Columbia: 2,628 for 2025, 2,350 for 2024, 2,010 for 2023, 1,226 for 2021, 2,248 for 2020 and 4,213 for 2019; 2022 is missing months.
- Richland County Sheriff's Office: 2,479 for 2025, 3,118 for 2024, 3,063 for 2023, 2,720 for 2022, 2,241 for 2021 and 3,211 for 2020.
- Irmo: 502 for 2025, 546 for 2024 and 393 for 2023.
- Forest Acres: 191 for 2025, 202 for 2024, 174 for 2023, 159 for 2022, 164 for 2021 and 182 for 2020.
Together, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 5,800 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 5,800 in 2025 against 6,216 in 2024, down 6.7 percent.
Through July 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 1,795 arrests, against 1,803 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Richland County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Richland 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 800 people, down from about 810 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 1,022 beds, and it ran at 78 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
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 Richland County
For Richland County the place to look is the case index of the Richland 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/richland, phone (803) 576-1950).
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 Richland 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 Richland County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Columbia, Irmo or Forest Acres: 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 Natural Resources in Richland County, the University of South Carolina at Columbia or the Department of Mental Health: the records office of the agency involved.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Richland County Circuit Court, through the court records page at sccourts.org, phone (803) 576-1950.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Richland County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for three of the six cities in Richland County: Columbia, Irmo and Forest Acres. Blythewood, Arcadia Lakes and Eastover 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 Richland County Circuit Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Richland County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Columbia (144,788)
- Forest Acres (10,438)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Richland County each year?
Columbia reported 2,628 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the four agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 5,800 between them.
Where are people arrested in Richland County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Richland County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Richland 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 Richland County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Richland 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 Richland 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.