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 on September 23, 2026.
Howell, Michigan, in Livingston County, has about 9,900 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 Livingston 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: Howell public records, Livingston County arrest records, Michigan arrest records and Michigan inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Howell
The FBI lists Howell with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Howell Police Department. It reported 60 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 Livingston County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 375 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Livingston County: the Livingston County State Police (state police).
How Many Arrests Howell 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.
- Howell: 60 for 2025, 66 for 2024, 72 for 2023, 90 for 2022, 81 for 2021 and 109 for 2020.
Howell's 60 arrests in 2025 were down 9.1 percent from 66 in 2024.
Through August 2026, Howell reported 43 arrests, against 34 in the same months of 2025.
Across Livingston County, the eight agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 906 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Howell Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Howell 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 240 people, down from about 260 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 391 beds, and it ran at 65 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 Livingston County Sheriff's Office at milivcounty.gov/jail (page title: Jail | Livingston County, MI), phone (517) 546-2445, 150 S Highlander Way Howell, MI 48843, 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 Howell
Whether someone was arrested in Howell, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Livingston County Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at milivcounty.gov/courts, phone (517) 546-8079); the Prosecuting Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at milivcounty.gov/prosecutor, phone (517) 546-1850).
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 Howell
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 agency that reports for Howell: its own records unit.
- An arrest by the Livingston County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (517) 546-2445.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Prosecuting Attorney, (517) 546-1850, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Livingston County Circuit Court, through the court records page at milivcounty.gov/courts, phone (517) 546-8079.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The Livingston County guide covers every agency in the county: Livingston County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Howell each year?
Howell reported 60 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Howell?
Ask the Livingston County Sheriff's Office at (517) 546-2445; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at milivcounty.gov/jail.
Where are people arrested in Howell booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Livingston County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Howell?
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 Howell?
From the agency that made the arrest: the agency that reports for Howell for its own arrests, the Livingston 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.
Is this the official Howell 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.