Magistrate Courts in Florence County, SC, dish out arrest warrants if they sniff out probable cause. A Magistrate checks out an affidavit from a law enforcement officer and decides if there’s enough reason to believe the suspect committed a crime. Once signed, the warrant springs into action, letting officers nab the suspect. After getting hauled in, the suspect heads to court for a hearing.
Florence County arrest records and warrants.
To begin a warrant search in Florence County, access the Public Index system online for the Twelfth Judicial Circuit. You can search by name, case type, or action type to get information about pending or closed civil and criminal cases in Florence County. Once you find an outstanding warrant, you can follow up with the Magistrate Court that issued the warrant for more information. To obtain copies of arrest records for cases that have been transferred to the Circuit Court, you would contact the Florence County Clerk of Court.
Florence County Sheriff’s Office
To request a criminal background history for an individual in Florence County, contact the Records Division of the Florence County Sheriff’s Office (FCSO). There will be a fee based on the search and the number of arrests located. If you want to check the current bookings, you can view these by date on the Sheriff’s website. The FCSO also maintains a “Most Wanted” list on its website containing pictures and pending charges for the county’s most wanted fugitives.
What information can you get about Florence County warrants and arrest records over the phone (in 2023)?
The briefest of information about criminal matters is provided over the phone simply because the agencies concerned are keen to deal with the applicants in person. This helps them ensure they don’t inevitably put sensitive information into the wrong hands. Nonetheless, this is who you can try calling:
- The Court of the Magistrate: This agency handles preliminary hearings for the issue of arrest warrants and deals with those accused of traffic violations and Class C misdemeanor crimes. Call them on 843-665-0031 or 843-661-7001.
- The Sheriff’s Department: If you are seeking a simple “yes-or-no” answer on the existence of an outstanding warrant against your subject, you can try calling the Office of the Sheriff on 843-665-2121 ext 396 or ext 392.
- The Office of the Clerk of Court: This agency can help you with arrest records and information on active warrants in your own name or against someone else. Call them on 843-665-3031.
- The Detention Center: The facility is used to hold people arrested till their preliminary hearing and to house inmates serving sentences of one year or less. To get information on recent arrests, call them on 843-665-9944 ext 485, 486, and 487.
Crime statistics for Florence County, SC
The annual property crime rate of Florence County dropped by a mere 2 incidents in 2019, as compared to the previous year. It goes without saying that the dismal, single-digit drop was unable to balance the comparatively greater rise in the rate of violent crimes, which soared by nearly 10% (from 1058 incidents to 1140 complaints)
Compared to nine other SC counties, Florence ranked number one for the highest number of crimes reported from 1999 through 2008. Approximately 66,700 crimes were reported during that time, with about 14% of those deemed violent. Florence County’s crime rate more than doubled in 2004 to over 9,600 crimes for that year alone.