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.
Lansing, Michigan, in Ingham County, has about 114,000 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: Lansing public records, Ingham County arrest records, Michigan arrest records and Michigan inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Lansing
The FBI lists Lansing with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Lansing Township Police Department. It reported 169 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 Lansing (township) 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.
- Lansing (township): 169 for 2025, 125 for 2024, 100 for 2023, 107 for 2022, 100 for 2021 and 147 for 2020.
Lansing (township)'s 169 arrests in 2025 were up 35 percent from 125 in 2024.
Through September 2026, Lansing (township) reported 94 arrests, against 136 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 Lansing Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Lansing 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 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 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 Lansing
Whether someone was arrested in 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 Lansing
An arrest report belongs to the agency whose officer wrote it, and that agency releases it, not the court or the jail. 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 Lansing police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at content.civicplus.com/api/assets/4bde789f-0206-4029-aa4f-928ba47f3af7 (page title: Lansing Police Department Records Disclosure Request), phone 517-483-4680, 120 West Michigan Avenue, Lansing, MI 48933, 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 Lansing each year?
Lansing (township) reported 169 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
Where are people arrested in 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 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 Lansing?
From the agency that made the arrest: the 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 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.