Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones each agency reported to the FBI, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026. 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.
Alpena County, Michigan, has about 29,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Alpena County Sheriff's Office, one city agency and one state agency. An arrest 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 Alpena County Circuit Court. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts each agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies, cities and common questions.
Related guides: Alpena County public records, Michigan arrest records, Michigan inmate search and Michigan criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Alpena County
The Alpena County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Alpena County. It reported 241 arrests for 2025.
One city in Alpena County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- Alpena, 10,116 residents: 290 arrests reported for 2025.
A city on that list is reported separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Alpena County: the Alpena County State Police (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Alpena County
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.
- Alpena: 290 for 2025, 310 for 2024, 349 for 2023, 317 for 2022, 179 for 2021 and 167 for 2020.
- Alpena County Sheriff's Office: 241 for 2025, 320 for 2024, 236 for 2023, 70 for 2020 and 163 for 2019; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 531 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 531 in 2025 against 630 in 2024, down 16 percent.
Through September 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 410 arrests, against 380 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Alpena County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Alpena County 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 50 people, down from about 55 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 69 beds, and it ran at 80 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 Alpena County Sheriff's Office at alpenacounty.org/168/Corrections-Jail (page title: Corrections & Jail | Alpena County, MI), phone 989-354-9830, Monday - Friday 9am to 4pm, 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 Alpena County
Whether someone was arrested in Alpena County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Alpena County Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at alpenacounty.org/188/Court-Information-Forms, phone 989-354-9520); the Prosecuting Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at alpenacounty.org/255/Prosecuting-Attorney, phone 989-354-9738).
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 Alpena County
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 Alpena County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 989-354-9830.
- An arrest in Alpena: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by the Alpena County State Police: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Prosecuting Attorney, 989-354-9738, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Alpena County Circuit Court, through the court records page at alpenacounty.org/188/Court-Information-Forms, phone 989-354-9520.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Alpena County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for Alpena, the one city in Alpena County.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Alpena County Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Alpena County each year?
Alpena reported 290 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 531 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Alpena County?
Ask the Alpena County Sheriff's Office at 989-354-9830; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at alpenacounty.org/168/Corrections-Jail.
Where are people arrested in Alpena County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Alpena County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Alpena County?
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 Alpena County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Alpena County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Michigan Freedom of Information Act the answer is due within 5 business days, with a 10-day extension.
Is this the official Alpena County website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.