Frequently Asked Questions
Charleston County Government does not handle FOIA requests for law enforcement. Requests must be made to the responding agency. If the responding agency is the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office, FOIA requests can be sent to [email protected]. This is *only* for documents from the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office.
Please note the Charleston County Consolidated 9-1-1 Center houses the recordings of 9-1-1 calls, and therefore requests for calls should be made through Charleston County Government
You can find the jurisdiction an address on Charleston County’s GIS Parcel Viewer . Enter only the street number and name. For example: 4045 Bridge View Drive, only enter 4045 Bridge View. The jurisdiction will be listed in the last row of the “Selected Parcel” box. If the address is in the City of Charleston, City of North Charleston, Town of Mt. Pleasant etc. then the request will need to be sent to the municipality.
The South Carolina Department of Health's Vital Statistics Department (which maintains birth and death records) will be able to assist you. You can find information on their website at http://www.scdhec.gov/mindex.htm or contact them directly at their office located in Charleston County at (843) 953-0032.
Charleston County has ten business days (this excludes Saturdays, Sundays, and legal public holidays) of the receipt of the request to notify the requester of its determination and the reasons for it. If the record is more than 24 months old, the County has 20 days to respond with a determination. The determination must constitute the final opinion of the public body as to the public availability of the requested public record; however, the determination is not required to include a final decision or an opinion as to whether specific portions of the documents maybe subject to redaction according to exemptions (section 30-4-40) or state or federal laws. If a request is granted, the record must be furnished or made available for inspection or copying no later than 30 calendar days from the date of which the determination was provided, unless the record is more than 24 months old, in which case the public body has no later than 35 calendar days from the date that the final determination was provided.
Charleston County Government has only one fire department, the Awendaw-McClellenville Fire Department, and can only process requests within their jurisdiction. All other requests will need to go to the responding fire agency. Charleston County Government does not have documents regarding chemical spills.
Patient reports are protected under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA).