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.
East Lansing, Michigan, in Ingham County, has about 49,000 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 Ingham 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: East Lansing public records, Ingham County arrest records, Michigan arrest records and Michigan inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in East Lansing
The FBI lists East Lansing with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as East Lansing Police Department. It reported 492 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 Ingham County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 814 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Ingham County: Michigan State University and Lansing Community College (campus police); the Ingham County State Police (state police).
How Many Arrests East Lansing 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.
- East Lansing: 492 for 2025, 362 for 2024, 403 for 2023, 272 for 2022, 334 for 2021 and 847 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
East Lansing's 492 arrests in 2025 were up 36 percent from 362 in 2024.
Through September 2026, East Lansing reported 381 arrests, against 368 in the same months of 2025.
Across Ingham County, the nine agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 3,893 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in East Lansing Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in East Lansing 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 2020 the jail held about 300 people, down from about 410 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 444 beds, and it ran at 92 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
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 East Lansing
Whether someone was arrested in East Lansing, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Ingham 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=ingham+county); the Prosecuting Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at pa.ingham.org/courts_and_sheriff/prosecuting_attorney, phone (517) 483-6108).
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 East Lansing
The report of an arrest is released by the agency that made it; the jail and the court hold their own records of the same event, but not the report. 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 East Lansing police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at cityofeastlansing.com/415/Police-Records (page title: Police Records | East Lansing, MI), phone (517) 351-4220, 409 Park Lane East Lansing, MI 48823, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. - 3 p.m., which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 2026.
- An arrest by the Ingham County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Prosecuting Attorney, (517) 483-6108, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Ingham 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 sheriff.ingham.org (page title: Ingham County | FOIA Requests).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The Ingham County guide covers every agency in the county: Ingham County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in East Lansing each year?
East Lansing reported 492 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
Where are people arrested in East Lansing booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Ingham County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in East Lansing?
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 East Lansing?
From the agency that made the arrest: the East Lansing police for its own arrests, the Ingham 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 sheriff.ingham.org.
Is this the official East Lansing 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.