Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest and crime counts are the ones each agency reported to the FBI, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026. 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). In Michigan the public criminal record is the court file, kept by the County Clerk; the statewide criminal history kept by the Michigan State Police is open to anyone who asks. This guide says where each record of a criminal case from Dowagiac is kept and how it is seen.
This guide covers the court file, the statewide record, local arrest records, the crimes behind the records, the prosecutor, sex offender registry, records requests and common questions.
Related guides: Dowagiac public records, Cass County criminal records, Dowagiac arrest records, Dowagiac warrants, Dowagiac inmate search, Dowagiac court records, Michigan arrest records and Michigan inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Cass County Circuit Court
In Michigan the public criminal record is the court file. Criminal cases from Dowagiac are heard by the Cass County Circuit Court, which hears felonies, civil cases over $25,000, divorces and family matters; the District Court takes misdemeanors, traffic cases, small claims and civil cases up to $25,000, and the file of each case is kept by the County Clerk.
For Cass County, SearchSystems opened and checked the court records page for the county at courts.michigan.gov/search/?searchQuery=cass+county, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
Statewide, MiCOURT Case Search is the Michigan courts' statewide case search; not every court has joined.
The Michigan Criminal History and Your Own Copy
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. The result is the repository record, what agencies reported to the state, which is wider than one county's court index but can lag it. The search is on the Michigan State Police site.
Arrest Records Kept Locally in Dowagiac
The Cass County Sheriff's Office and the agency that reports for Dowagiac (filed by the FBI as Dowagiac Police Department) keep the arrest records in and around Dowagiac: the report and the booking record of each arrest stay with the agency that made it, separate from the court file and from the state repository.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Cass County: the Cass County State Police (state police); it keeps the records of its own arrests.
Together, the four agencies in Cass County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 496 arrests to the FBI that year; how each case ended is in the court file, not in the arresting agency's.
The agencies and their counts, year by year, are in Dowagiac arrest records.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Dowagiac in 2025
The agency that reports for Dowagiac had 32 violent and 157 property crimes reported for 2025; each one is a report on file with it, and each arrest that follows is the start of a criminal record.
The Prosecuting Attorney for Cass County
Charges in Cass County are filed by the Prosecuting Attorney, which reviews the arrests of every agency in the county and brings the cases in the Cass County Circuit Court or the District Court.
The office's page SearchSystems verified is at casscountymi.org/1194/Prosecuting-Attorney (page title: Prosecutor | Cass County, MI), phone (269) 445-4460, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 30, 2026.
The Sex Offender Registry for Dowagiac
Registered sex offenders living in Dowagiac are listed on the Michigan Public Sex Offender Registry, run by the Michigan State Police at michigan.gov/msp/services/sex-offender-reg. Tier 2 and Tier 3 offenders are listed online.
Registration itself is done in person with the local agency where the registrant lives: the sheriff's office, or the city police in a city with its own department.
Asking an Agency in Cass County for a Record
An arrest report, a booking record or a local criminal history letter comes from the agency that holds it, not from the court.
Under the Michigan Freedom of Information Act a county office must answer a request within 5 business days, with a 10-day extension, and it may charge labor and copying, at rates the law caps. The county records request page SearchSystems verified is at casscountymi.org/163/Record-Requests (page title: Record Requests | Cass County, MI).
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal 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.
Can I search Dowagiac criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at courts.michigan.gov (page title: Michigan). Statewide, MiCOURT Case Search is the Michigan courts' statewide case search; not every court has joined.
How do I get my own Michigan criminal history?
Through the same ICHAT search, run on yourself.
Who prosecutes crimes in Dowagiac?
The Prosecuting Attorney, reached at (269) 445-4460, which files its cases in the Cass County Circuit Court or the District Court.
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.