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.
Royal Oak, Michigan, in Oakland County, has about 58,000 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: Royal Oak public records, Oakland County arrest records, Michigan arrest records and Michigan inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Royal Oak
The FBI lists Royal Oak with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Royal Oak Police Department. It reported 1,048 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 Royal Oak Reports
Each agency reports its arrests to the FBI by month, and the FBI publishes them 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.
- Royal Oak: 1,048 for 2025, 1,236 for 2024, 1,077 for 2023, 954 for 2022, 883 for 2021 and 804 for 2020.
Royal Oak's 1,048 arrests in 2025 were down 15 percent from 1,236 in 2024.
Through September 2026, Royal Oak reported 691 arrests, against 803 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 Royal Oak Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Royal Oak 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 Royal Oak
An arrest in Royal Oak 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 Royal Oak
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 Royal Oak police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at romi.gov/381/Records-ID (page title: Records & ID | Royal Oak, MI), phone 248-246-3530, 450 East Eleven Mile Road Royal Oak, MI 48067, Monday through Thursday 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 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 Royal Oak each year?
Royal Oak reported 1,048 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Royal Oak?
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 Royal Oak 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 Royal Oak?
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 Royal Oak?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Royal Oak 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 Royal Oak 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.