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.
Southgate, Michigan, in Wayne County, has about 29,000 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 Wayne 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: Southgate public records, Wayne County arrest records, Michigan arrest records and Michigan inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Southgate
The FBI lists Southgate with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Southgate Police Department. It reported 455 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 Wayne County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 1,012 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Wayne County: the Lower Huron Metropark Huron-Clinton Metropolitan Authority and Wayne County Airport (other); Schoolcraft College and the University of Michigan at Dearborn (campus police); the Wayne County State Police (state police).
How Many Arrests Southgate 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.
- Southgate: 455 for 2025, 593 for 2024, 504 for 2023, 367 for 2022, 433 for 2021 and 478 for 2020.
Southgate's 455 arrests in 2025 were down 23 percent from 593 in 2024.
Through May 2026, Southgate reported 196 arrests, against 215 in the same months of 2025.
Across Wayne County, the 40 agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 33,288 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Southgate Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Southgate 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 2023 the jail held about 1,380 people, down from about 1,830 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 1,585 beds, and it ran at 87 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 Southgate
An arrest in Southgate can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Wayne County Circuit Court, kept by the County Clerk, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date; the Prosecuting Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at waynecountymi.gov/Government/Elected-Officials/Prosecutor, phone (313) 224-5777).
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at courts.michigan.gov/search/?searchQuery=wayne+county (page title: Wayne County courts search), belongs to a lower court, not to the Wayne County Circuit Court.
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 Southgate
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 Southgate police: the police department's page SearchSystems verified at southgatemi.gov/departments/police/index.php (page title: Southgate, MI), phone 734-324-4438, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 2026.
- An arrest by the Wayne County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Prosecuting Attorney, (313) 224-5777, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: in the Wayne County Circuit Court it is kept by the County Clerk. The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at courts.michigan.gov, is a lower court's.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at waynecountymi.nextrequest.com (page title: FOIA RequestNextRequest | Modern FOIA & Public Records Request Software).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The Wayne County guide covers every agency in the county: Wayne County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Southgate each year?
Southgate reported 455 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
Where are people arrested in Southgate booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Wayne County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Southgate?
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 Southgate?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Southgate police for its own arrests, the Wayne 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 waynecountymi.nextrequest.com.
Is this the official Southgate 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.