Dare County Sheriff's Office

Jurisdiction and responsibilities

The sheriff serves Dare County's mainland, islands and Outer Banks areas while cooperating with six independent town police departments. Its patrol page expressly identifies the State Highway Patrol and National Park Service among its partner agencies.

How the agency is organized

Patrol is organized into geographic districts. Deputies respond to emergency and non-emergency calls, begin investigations, collect evidence and conduct criminal and traffic enforcement. Locations published for districts are service locations within the same agency; they are not separate departments or necessarily the sheriff's administrative headquarters.

Agency history and local context

The agency dates its local service to Dare County's creation in 1870. Its history reflects the development of a county spread across coastal and mainland communities.

Official records and officer resources

Use the locations-and-contact page to identify the relevant office, and consult the published fingerprint, forms and employment information for those services. The agency FAQ discusses employment standards and specific public-service questions.

FBI data · 2025

The following figures are from the FBI’s 2025 published agency tables. They describe a reporting period, not current staffing or an assessment of agency performance.

Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer downloads, table 10; published agency label: Dare. CIUS_Table_10_Offenses_Known_to_Law_Enforcement_by_State_by_Metropolitan_and_Nonmetropolitan_Counties_2025.xlsx

This is a county-level agency row, not the total for every police department or every offense in the county.

Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer downloads, table 80; published agency label: Dare. Table_80_Full_time_Law_Enforcement_Employees_by_State_by_Metropolitan_and_Nonmetropolitan_Counties_2025.xlsx

Blank or unavailable values remain “Not published.” Participating agencies and reporting scope vary. Campus figures concern the reporting institution; a city name does not expand them to all local residents. Read the data definitions and limitations.

NC SBI data · 2024

The NC SBI record is published under Dare Co. Sheriff. Its 2024 reporting-status table lists: Reporting. These earlier figures are presented separately from the FBI’s 2025 tables.

Published Index-crime total: 206.

Sources: SBI agency reporting status · SBI law-enforcement personnel · SBI Index offenses by agency in county.

Personnel are a dated full-time payroll snapshot. Civilian classifications can include jail employees without outside police powers. These are not authorized-position or vacancy counts. Index-crime totals cover selected categories and are not totals of all crime.

Sources and review date

Official agency, government and institutional sources are linked below. Contact details and organizational information were reviewed September 24, 2026. Published statistical years are identified separately.

• Official agency information
• Official agency information
• Official agency information
• SBI published 2026 agency roster; historical inventory, not current reporting obligation