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 October 4, 2026.
Sterling Heights, Michigan, in Macomb County, has about 134,000 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 Macomb 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: Sterling Heights public records, Macomb County arrest records, Michigan arrest records and Michigan inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Sterling Heights
The FBI lists Sterling Heights with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Sterling Heights Police Department. It reported 2,038 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 Macomb County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 764 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Macomb County: the Macomb County State Police (state police); Macomb Community College (campus police); the Stony Creek Metropark Huron-Clinton Metropolitan Authority (other).
How Many Arrests Sterling Heights 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.
- Sterling Heights: 2,038 for 2025, 1,588 for 2024, 1,440 for 2023, 1,366 for 2022, 1,083 for 2021 and 1,552 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
Sterling Heights's 2,038 arrests in 2025 were up 28 percent from 1,588 in 2024.
Through July 2026, Sterling Heights reported 1,025 arrests, against 1,197 in the same months of 2025.
Across Macomb County, the 16 agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 12,850 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Sterling Heights Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Sterling Heights 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 2024 the jail held about 910 people, down from about 1,030 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 1,082 beds, and it ran at 79 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the Macomb County Sheriff's Office at macombgov.org/departments/sheriffs-office/locate-inmate (page title: Locate an inmate), phone 586-469-5151, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 4, 2026.
That page is the place to look for someone who was booked recently; a person cited and released at the scene, or held only a few hours by a city department, will not be on it.
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 Sterling Heights
Whether someone was arrested in Sterling Heights, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the Macomb County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Macomb County Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at macombgov.org/departments/clerk-register-deeds/court-records, phone 586-469-5353); the Prosecuting Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at macombgov.org/departments/prosecutors-office, phone 586-469-5350).
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 Sterling Heights
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 Sterling Heights police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at sterlingheights.gov/547/Police-Report-Copies (page title: Police Report Copies | Sterling Heights, MI), phone 586-276-4069, 40333 Dodge Park Road, Sterling Heights, MI 48313, Monday through Friday between 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 2026.
- An arrest by the Macomb County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 586-469-5151.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Prosecuting Attorney, 586-469-5350, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Macomb County Circuit Court, through the court records page at macombgov.org, phone 586-469-5353.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The Macomb County guide covers every agency in the county: Macomb County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Sterling Heights each year?
Sterling Heights reported 2,038 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Sterling Heights?
Look on the custody page of the Macomb County Sheriff's Office at macombgov.org, or call 586-469-5151. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Sterling Heights booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Macomb County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Sterling Heights?
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 Sterling Heights?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Sterling Heights police for its own arrests, the Macomb 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 Sterling Heights 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.