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 October 4, 2026.
Grand Haven, Michigan, in Ottawa County, has about 11,000 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 Grand Haven 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: Grand Haven public records, Ottawa County criminal records, Grand Haven arrest records, Grand Haven warrants, Grand Haven inmate search, Grand Haven court records, Michigan arrest records and Michigan inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Ottawa County Circuit Court
A criminal case from Grand Haven is filed in the Ottawa County Circuit Court or the District Court, which takes misdemeanors, traffic cases, small claims and civil cases up to $25,000, and the court file, kept by the County Clerk, is the record of it that the public may see.
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at courts.michigan.gov/search/?searchQuery=ottawa+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 Grand Haven
The Ottawa County Sheriff's Office and the agency that reports for Grand Haven (filed by the FBI as Grand Haven Police Department) keep the arrest records in and around Grand Haven: 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 these agencies in Ottawa County: Grand Valley State University (campus police); the Ottawa County State Police (state police); each keeps the records of its own arrests.
Together, the three agencies in Ottawa County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 2,935 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 Grand Haven arrest records.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Grand Haven in 2025
The agency that reports for Grand Haven had 24 violent and 79 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 Ottawa County
The Prosecuting Attorney decides which arrests in Ottawa County become charges and files them in the Ottawa County Circuit Court or the District Court; the office answers questions about pending prosecutions, and the case files themselves are court records.
The office's page SearchSystems verified is at miottawa.org/department/prosecuting-attorney (page title: Prosecuting Attorney | Ottawa County, MI), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 30, 2026.
The Sex Offender Registry for Grand Haven
Registered sex offenders living in Grand Haven 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 Ottawa 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 miottawa.org/clerk/circuit-court-records/search-request-records (page title: Search & Request Records | Ottawa County, MI).
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Grand Haven?
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 Grand Haven 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 Grand Haven?
The Prosecuting Attorney, which files its cases in the Ottawa County Circuit Court or the District Court.
Is this the official Grand Haven 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.