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 on September 23, 2026.
Arenac County, Michigan, has about 15,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Arenac 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 Arenac 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: Arenac County public records, Michigan arrest records, Michigan inmate search and Michigan criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Arenac County
The Arenac County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Arenac County. It reported 258 arrests for 2025.
One city in Arenac County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- Au Gres, 957 residents: 1 arrests reported for 2021.
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 Arenac County: the Arenac County State Police (state police).
How Many Arrests The Arenac County Sheriff's Office 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.
- Arenac County Sheriff's Office: 258 for 2025, 179 for 2024, 194 for 2023, 238 for 2022, 227 for 2021 and 232 for 2020.
- Au Gres: 1 for 2021, 0 for 2020 and 0 for 2019.
The Arenac County Sheriff's Office's 258 arrests in 2025 were up 44 percent from 179 in 2024.
Through September 2026, Arenac County Sheriff's Office reported 126 arrests, against 194 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Arenac County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Arenac County 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 2020 the jail held about 22 people, down from about 37 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 46 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 Arenac County Sheriff's Office at arenaccountymi.gov/Sheriff/Sheriff (page title: Sheriff | Arenac County, Michigan), phone 989-846-3002, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
A sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the Michigan Department of Corrections lists its inmates at mdocweb.state.mi.us/otis2.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Arenac County
An arrest in Arenac County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: MiCOURT Case Search, the Michigan courts' statewide case search; not every court has joined, which shows whether charges were filed; the Prosecuting Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at arenaccountymi.gov/Departments/Prosecuting-Attorney, phone 989-846-4597).
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 Arenac County
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 Arenac County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 989-846-3002.
- An arrest in Au Gres: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by the Arenac 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, 989-846-4597, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Arenac County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the six cities in Arenac County: Au Gres. Standish, Sterling, Omer, Twining and Turner have no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Arenac County Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Arenac County each year?
The Arenac County Sheriff's Office reported 258 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Arenac County?
Ask the Arenac County Sheriff's Office at 989-846-3002; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at arenaccountymi.gov/Sheriff/Sheriff.
Where are people arrested in Arenac County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Arenac County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Arenac 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 Arenac County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Arenac 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 Arenac 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.