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.
Ludington, Michigan, in Mason County, has about 7,600 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 Mason 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: Ludington public records, Mason County arrest records, Michigan arrest records and Michigan inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Ludington
The FBI lists Ludington with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Ludington Police Department. It reported 368 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 Mason County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 413 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Mason County: the Mason County State Police (state police).
How Many Arrests Ludington 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.
- Ludington: 368 for 2025, 382 for 2024, 297 for 2023, 274 for 2022, 250 for 2021 and 223 for 2020.
Ludington's 368 arrests in 2025 were down 3.7 percent from 382 in 2024.
Through September 2026, Ludington reported 300 arrests, against 281 in the same months of 2025.
Across Mason County, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 781 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Ludington Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Ludington 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 2019 the jail held about 58 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 110 beds, and it ran at 53 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 Mason County Sheriff's Office at masoncounty.net/departments/sheriff (page title: Mason County), phone 800-542-4600, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 28, 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 Ludington
Whether someone was arrested in Ludington, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Mason 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=mason); the Prosecuting Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at masoncountymi.gov/courts/prosecuting_attorney/index.php, phone (231) 845-7377).
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 Ludington
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 Ludington police: the police department's page SearchSystems verified at ludington.mi.us/230/Police-Department (page title: Police Department | Ludington, MI), phone (231) 843-3425, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Mason County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 800-542-4600.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Prosecuting Attorney, (231) 845-7377, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Mason County Circuit Court, through the court records page at courts.michigan.gov/search/?searchQuery=mason.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at masoncountymi.gov (page title: Mason County).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The Mason County guide covers every agency in the county: Mason County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Ludington each year?
Ludington reported 368 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Ludington?
Ask the Mason County Sheriff's Office at 800-542-4600; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at masoncounty.net/departments/sheriff.
Where are people arrested in Ludington booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Mason County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Ludington?
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 Ludington?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Ludington police for its own arrests, the Mason 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 masoncountymi.gov.
Is this the official Ludington 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.