Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones the agency reported to the FBI, through 2025. The jail figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data. Every office link was opened and checked against the office's own site between September 23, 2026 and September 30, 2026.
Dowagiac, Michigan, in Cass County, has about 5,700 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and its arrests are reported to the FBI by an agency of its own. An arrest in the city leaves the same records whoever makes it: the arresting agency's report, the record of anyone held at the county jail, and, if the Prosecuting Attorney files charges, a case in the Cass County Circuit Court. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts the agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies and common questions.
Related guides: Dowagiac public records, Cass County arrest records, Michigan arrest records and Michigan inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Dowagiac
The FBI lists Dowagiac with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Dowagiac Police Department. It reported 160 arrests for 2025. A city is listed separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
Outside the city, the Cass County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 267 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Cass County: the Cass County State Police (state police).
How Many Arrests Dowagiac Reports
Each agency reports its arrests to the FBI by month, and the FBI publishes them on the Crime Data Explorer. These are the full-year totals, all offenses, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026; a year with months missing or not reported is left out.
- Dowagiac: 160 for 2025, 175 for 2024, 172 for 2023, 129 for 2022, 110 for 2021 and 111 for 2020.
Dowagiac's 160 arrests in 2025 were down 8.6 percent from 175 in 2024.
Through September 2026, Dowagiac reported 142 arrests, against 116 in the same months of 2025.
Across Cass County, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 496 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Dowagiac Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Dowagiac and kept in custody ends up, whichever agency made the arrest, though a city department may hold someone in its own cells first and a person cited and released at the scene is never booked. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and once the person is released or sentenced the record continues in the court file.
On an average day in 2019 the jail held about 120 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 116 beds, and it ran at 108 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the jail page of the Cass County Sheriff's Office at casscountymi.org/1520/Sheriffs-Office (page title: Sheriff's Office | Cass County, MI), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 28, 2026.
A sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the Michigan Department of Corrections lists its inmates at mdocweb.state.mi.us/otis2.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Dowagiac
Whether someone was arrested in Dowagiac, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Cass County Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at courts.michigan.gov/search/?searchQuery=cass+county); the Prosecuting Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at casscountymi.org/1194/Prosecuting-Attorney, phone (269) 445-4460).
Statewide, MiCOURT Case Search is the Michigan courts' statewide case search; not every court has joined.
Michigan is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: ICHAT lets anyone search public criminal history by name, for $10 a search, through the Michigan State Police. That record shows what agencies reported to the state, which is wider than one county's court index but can lag it.
Getting a Copy of an Arrest Record in Dowagiac
An arrest report belongs to the agency whose officer wrote it, and that agency releases it, not the court or the jail. Under the Michigan Freedom of Information Act the agency must answer within 5 business days, with a 10-day extension, and it may charge labor and copying, at rates the law caps.
- An arrest by the Dowagiac police: the police department's page SearchSystems verified at cityofdowagiac.com/government/police/contact_information.php (page title: Dowagiac, MI), phone 269-782-9743, 241 S. Front Street Dowagiac, MI 49047, Monday thru Friday 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM., which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Cass County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Prosecuting Attorney, (269) 445-4460, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Cass County Circuit Court, through the court records page at courts.michigan.gov.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at casscountymi.org/163/Record-Requests (page title: Record Requests | Cass County, MI).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The Cass County guide covers every agency in the county: Cass County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Dowagiac each year?
Dowagiac reported 160 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Dowagiac?
Ask the Cass County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at casscountymi.org/1520/Sheriffs-Office.
Where are people arrested in Dowagiac booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Cass County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Dowagiac?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Michigan State Police: ICHAT lets anyone search public criminal history by name, for $10. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Michigan Freedom of Information Act.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Dowagiac?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Dowagiac police for its own arrests, the Cass County Sheriff's Office for the sheriff's. Under the Michigan Freedom of Information Act the answer is due within 5 business days, with a 10-day extension; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at casscountymi.org/163/Record-Requests.
Is this the official Dowagiac website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official city, county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.