The Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office’s Communications Center team fields thousands of calls from residents and guests each month on our 9-1-1 emergency line.

To help our dispatchers and first-responders better assist callers, it’s important to know when to use 9-1-1 — which is reserved for true emergencies — and when to call our non-emergency line at 843-524-2777.

To read our guidelines on calling 9-1-1 and our tips for effective communication in an emergency, please click here.

Crime Stoppers is a statewide program dedicated to receiving and disseminating information to law enforcement agencies, all while allowing the source of information to remain anonymous.

Calls to Crime Stoppers are answered 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Should a tip lead to an arrest or major development in an investigation, the providing tipster will be eligible to receive a cash reward as compensation. 

To report a crime in Beaufort County and remain anonymous, call 843-554-1111 or 1-888-CRIME-SC or submit your tip online by clicking here.

The Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office Northern and Southern Patrol Branches conduct thousands of additional patrols a year at the request of citizens and business owners in an effort to prevent burglaries, vehicle break-ins or other criminal activities.

To request additional patrols of your residence, neighborhood or place of business, please fill out a request form by clicking here.

A hazardous material is any item or agent — biological, chemical, radiological or physical — that has the potential to cause harm to humans, animals or the environment.

In 1990, a Beaufort County Hazardous Materials Ordinance was enacted to protect first-responders from injury or death that that may result from explosion, fire or exposure to unknown dangerous substances and to protect the natural environment through the monitoring and disposal of hazardous materials.

The ordinance requires any business in Beaufort County that has hazardous materials on site to register yearly with the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office Hazardous Materials Unit.

To learn more about Hazardous Materials registration requirements, please click here.

In 2011, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley signed House Bill 3660, commonly known as the “Copper Theft Bill” into law.

Under this law, any person wishing to transport and sell any nonferrous metals — including copper and catalytic converters — to a scrap metal dealer must first obtain a permit to transport and sell from the sheriff’s office county where the seller resides.

Additionally, any person or business intending to purchase nonferrous metals — including copper or catalytic converters — must obtain a permit to purchase from the sheriff’s office in the county where they do business.

Beaufort Sheriff’s Office issues free two-year permits to transport and sell nonferrous metals.

The Sheriff’s Office charges $200 to issue two-year permits to purchase nonferrous metals.

HOW TO OBTAIN A PERMIT

Permits are issued in-person from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday at the Sheriff’s Office Law Enforcement Center, 2001 Duke St., Beaufort.

Only Beaufort County residents and businesses may obtain nonferrous metal permits from the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.

Anyone wishing to obtain a permit to transport or sell nonferrous metals must bring their state-issued ID with them. Businesses seeking a permit to buy nonferrous metals must also bring their business license.

To address the alarming rate of overdoses and deaths from prescription and illicit drug abuse, the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office, the Beaufort Memorial Hospital and the Lowcountry Alliance for Healthy Youth partnered in 2018 to install three prescription drug drop boxes in Beaufort County.

Since the installation of the boxes — in Beaufort, Bluffton and Hilton Head Island — more than 5,000 pounds of unused prescription medications have been collected, properly disposed of and kept off the streets.

For the locations and hours of the drug drop boxes, please click here.

The crime prevention officer conducts multiple presentations throughout the year across Beaufort County. These presentations are offered to large and small groups for free.

A request can be made for them to be a speaker at an event or to simply be present and a part of an event. A few of the most requested presentation are:

• Safety tips
• CRASE (Civilian Response to Active Shooter Events)
• Scams and fraud
• Local crime trends
• Presentations to youth groups, community groups, and senior citizens

For more information, contact Staff Sergeant Daniel Allen at 843-255-3293 or [email protected].

To request a speaker, please fill out a form by clicking here.

In response to the increasing number of Beaufort County residents who have fallen victim to scams — whether online, over the phone or in-person — the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office has compiled a list of on-going scams in the county, as well as tips on how to make yourself scam-proof.

To learn more, visit our Scam Alerts page by clicking here.

Sex offender registration is a system for monitoring and tracking convicted sex offenders following their release back into the community.

The registration provides important information about convicted sex offenders to local and federal authorities and the public, such as an offender’s name, current location and past offenses.

To search Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office’s Sex Offender Registry, click here.

Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office are available to provide security at community gatherings, churches or any other special event in Beaufort County.

To request that a uniformed deputy be on site at your church or event, please click here.