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.
Union County, South Carolina, has about 27,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Union 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 Union 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: Union County public records, South Carolina arrest records, South Carolina inmate search and South Carolina criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Union County
The Union County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Union County. It reported 248 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists two cities in Union County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Union, 7,988 residents: 361 arrests reported for 2025.
- Jonesville, 815 residents: 13 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 Union County: the Union County State Transport Police, the Department of Natural Resources in Union County, the Department of Health and Environmental Control Drug Control at Union, Union County South Carolina Law Enforcement Division and one more (state agency); the Highway Patrol in Union County (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Union 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.
- Union: 361 for 2025, 321 for 2024, 391 for 2023, 250 for 2021, 471 for 2020 and 548 for 2019; 2022 is missing months.
- Union County Sheriff's Office: 248 for 2025, 226 for 2024, 234 for 2023, 433 for 2022, 228 for 2021 and 158 for 2020.
- Jonesville: 13 for 2024, 13 for 2023, 55 for 2022, 70 for 2021, 33 for 2020 and 8 for 2019.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 609 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 609 in 2025 against 547 in 2024, up 11 percent.
Through July 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 356 arrests, against 348 in the same months of 2025.
Jonesville reported only part of 2025 (10 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Union County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Union 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 2021 the jail held about 82 people, up from about 41 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 80 beds, and it ran at 51 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
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 Union County
An arrest in Union County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Union 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/union, phone (864) 429-1630); the Solicitor, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at governmentcounty.org/company-solicitors-office-in-union-sc-3441, phone (864) 429-1639).
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 Union 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 Union County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Union or Jonesville: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by the Union County State Transport Police, the Department of Natural Resources in Union County or the Highway Patrol in Union County: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Solicitor, (864) 429-1639, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Union County Circuit Court, through the court records page at sccourts.org/courts/courthouse-search/union, phone (864) 429-1630.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Union County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for two of the four cities in Union County: Union and Jonesville. Lockhart and Carlisle 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 Union County Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Union County each year?
Union reported 361 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 609 between them.
Where are people arrested in Union County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Union County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Union 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 Union County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Union 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 Union 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.