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.
Ferndale, Michigan, in Oakland County, has about 19,000 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 Oakland 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: Ferndale public records, Oakland County arrest records, Michigan arrest records and Michigan inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Ferndale
The FBI lists Ferndale with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Ferndale Police Department. It reported 473 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 Oakland County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 201 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Oakland County: Oakland University and Oakland Community College (campus police); the Oakland County State Police (state police); the Kensington Metropark Huron-Clinton Metropolitan Authority (other).
How Many Arrests Ferndale Reports
The FBI publishes every agency's monthly arrest counts 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.
- Ferndale: 473 for 2025, 453 for 2024, 409 for 2023, 388 for 2022, 361 for 2021 and 335 for 2020.
Ferndale's 473 arrests in 2025 were up 4.4 percent from 453 in 2024.
Through September 2026, Ferndale reported 302 arrests, against 364 in the same months of 2025.
Across Oakland County, the 51 agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 17,547 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Ferndale Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Ferndale is held at the county jail, whichever agency made the arrest, apart from the short stay some city departments' own holding cells allow; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked at all. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and the court file takes over from there.
On an average day in 2024 the jail held about 1,050 people, down from about 1,300 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 1,664 beds, and it ran at 68 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 Oakland County Sheriff's Office at oaklandcountymi.gov/government/sheriff (page title: Sheriff | Oakland County, MI), phone 248-647-1141, 4280 Telegraph Road Bloomfield Hills, MI 48302, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
A person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the Michigan Department of Corrections, whose inmate locator is at mdocweb.state.mi.us/otis2.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Ferndale
An arrest in Ferndale can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Oakland County Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at oaklandcountymi.gov/government/clerk-register-of-deeds/court-record..., phone 248-858-0582); the Prosecuting Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at oaklandcountymi.gov/government/prosecutor/about-the-prosecutor-s-of..., phone 248-858-0656).
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 Ferndale
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 Ferndale police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at ferndalemi.gov/resources/records-bureau (page title: Records Bureau | Ferndale), phone 248-546-2386, 310 E Nine Mile Rd, Ferndale MI 48220, Monday through Thursday, and 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 2026.
- An arrest by the Oakland County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 248-647-1141.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Prosecuting Attorney, 248-858-0656, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Oakland County Circuit Court, through the court records page at oaklandcountymi.gov, phone 248-858-0582.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at oaklandcountymi.gov/government/foia (page title: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) | Oakland County, MI).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The Oakland County guide covers every agency in the county: Oakland County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Ferndale each year?
Ferndale reported 473 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Ferndale?
Ask the Oakland County Sheriff's Office at 248-647-1141; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at oaklandcountymi.gov/government/sheriff.
Where are people arrested in Ferndale booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Oakland County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Ferndale?
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 Ferndale?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Ferndale police for its own arrests, the Oakland 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 oaklandcountymi.gov/government/foia.
Is this the official Ferndale 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.