How to Complete and Submit the South Carolina SLED Background Check Form

The SLED background check form is a one-page request you file with the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division to pull a criminal history report on yourself or someone else. You can submit it online through the CATCH portal at catch.sled.sc.gov or mail the paper version to SLED’s Records Department with a $25 fee. The form asks for basic identifiers — name and date of birth, with Social Security Number optional — and returns matches from South Carolina’s criminal records database.

What the Form Asks For

The fillable PDF lives on the SLED CATCH website, and paper copies are available at SLED headquarters in Columbia. The fields look simple, but accuracy matters. CATCH uses a “starts with” match on the subject’s last name, first name, and date of birth to pull results, so a misspelling or a wrong birthdate can return a false “no record.”¹

Fill in each field carefully:

Full name including middle name, exactly as it appears on the subject’s identification.
Any AKAs or maiden names. Records filed under a former name won’t surface unless you list it.
Date of birth. Required, and used as a primary matching field alongside the name.
Social Security Number. Optional, but including it helps SLED distinguish between people with similar names and improves the accuracy of the match.²
Organization Name and Verification Number. Leave these blank unless you’re filing for a charitable organization or school district with an approved reduced-fee account.

If you’re filling out a paper copy, print clearly. Illegible handwriting is one of the most common causes of a delay or a mismatched record.

The Fee and How to Pay

SLED charges $25 per name search under S.C. Code § 23-3-115. The fee is non-refundable; you pay whether or not the search turns anything up.³

Payment depends on how you submit:

Online through CATCH: most major credit and debit cards.
By mail: business checks, certified checks, cashier’s checks, or money orders. SLED does not accept personal checks or cash. There is no convenience fee for mail-in requests.¹

Two exceptions to the $25 rate exist and don’t apply to individual requesters: qualifying charitable organizations pay $8 per search on their own volunteers and employees, and school districts pay nothing to run a check on a substitute teacher.³ Both require a SLED-approved account set up in advance.⁴

Submitting the Form

Online

The CATCH portal at catch.sled.sc.gov is the fastest option. You don’t need an account. Individuals can continue as a guest, agree to the terms of service, enter the subject’s information, and pay by card. Results come back essentially immediately once payment clears, which is why most people file this way.¹

By Mail

Send the completed form, your payment, and a self-addressed stamped envelope to:

SLED Records Department
PO Box 21398
Columbia, SC 29221-1398¹

The self-addressed stamped envelope is required; SLED uses it to return your report. Skip it and expect delays. Mail-in requests take noticeably longer than online submissions because of postal transit both ways and manual processing at SLED. Plan on at least a couple of weeks, longer during busy periods.

What Shows Up on the Report

The report covers South Carolina records only. It does not include federal convictions, records from other states, or records that have been sealed or expunged.¹ Someone with a substantial history in another state or at the federal level can still come back clean on a SLED search.

If nothing matches, the report returns “No Record.” If records exist, each entry typically shows the arrest date, the charges, and the court disposition — conviction, dismissal, or other outcome. Completeness depends on what local law enforcement and courts have reported to SLED’s central repository, so some entries show an arrest without a final disposition because the court hasn’t reported the outcome.

State law allows SLED to release arrest history whether or not a disposition is on file.³ An arrest that was later dismissed can still appear if the dismissal hasn’t made it into the system.

Fixing an Error on the Report

If your SLED report contains something wrong — a charge that isn’t yours, a missing disposition, or an arrest that was expunged but still showing — contact the SLED Public Dissemination Unit directly:

Phone: 803-896-1443, Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Email: SLEDCATCHAcct@sled.sc.gov¹

Have your report in front of you when you call, along with any court documentation supporting the correction (dismissal orders, expungement orders, or disposition paperwork from the clerk of court).

Removing a Record: Expungement

If the goal is to get a South Carolina record off the SLED database, expungement is the legal process. When a record is expunged, the state destroys or seals the arrest, charge, and conviction records so they no longer appear on background checks.

Eligibility is limited to specific categories: first-offense misdemeanor convictions in magistrate court, successful completion of pretrial intervention, conditional discharge for certain drug offenses, first-offense fraudulent check charges, and youthful offender cases, among others.⁵ Eligibility turns on the offense you were actually convicted of or pled to, not the original charge.

Applications go through the solicitor’s office in the judicial circuit where the case was handled, not through SLED. The South Carolina Judicial Branch website at sccourts.org has separate instructions for General Sessions cases, magistrate and municipal cases, and juvenile records, and each level has its own forms and procedures.⁶ Confirm you’re on the correct page for your court before you file.

1
South Carolina Law Enforcement Division. Citizens Access to Criminal Histories
2
South Carolina Law Enforcement Division. Criminal Record Check Form
3
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code of Laws Title 23 – Section 23-3-115
4
South Carolina Law Enforcement Division. Organization Application for Reduced Background Check Fees
5
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code Title 17 Chapter 22 Section 17-22-910
6
South Carolina Judicial Branch. Expungement Application Process