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 October 2, 2026.
Benzie County, Michigan, has about 19,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Benzie 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 Benzie 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: Benzie County public records, Michigan arrest records, Michigan inmate search and Michigan criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Benzie County
The Benzie County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Benzie County. It reported 79 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists one city in Benzie County with a reporting agency of its own:
- Frankfort, 1,276 residents: 6 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 Benzie County: the Benzie County State Police (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Benzie County
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.
- Benzie County Sheriff's Office: 79 for 2025, 138 for 2024, 130 for 2023, 121 for 2022, 147 for 2021 and 181 for 2020.
- Frankfort: 6 for 2025, 5 for 2023, 12 for 2022, 12 for 2021, 14 for 2020 and 20 for 2019; 2024 is missing months.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 85 arrests that year. The one of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 79 in 2025 against 138 in 2024, down 43 percent.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Benzie County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Benzie 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 18 people, down from about 26 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 47 beds, and it ran at 55 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 Benzie County Sheriff's Office at benziesheriff.com (page title: Benzie County Jail MI Sheriff's Office, Jail & Inmate Information), phone (231) 882-0052, a site that blocks automated checks (HTTP 403), so open it in a browser.
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 Benzie County
Whether someone was arrested in Benzie County, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the Benzie County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Benzie County Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at benzieco.gov/government/19th_judicial_circuit_court.php, phone 231-723-6664); the Prosecuting Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at benzieco.gov/government/county_prosecutor.php, phone 231-882-0043).
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 Benzie 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 Benzie County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (231) 882-0052.
- An arrest in Frankfort: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by the Benzie 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, 231-882-0043, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Benzie County Circuit Court, through the court records page at benzieco.gov, phone 231-723-6664.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Benzie County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the seven cities in Benzie County: Frankfort. Benzonia, Thompsonville, Honor, Elberta, Beulah and Lake Ann 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 Benzie County Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Benzie County each year?
The Benzie County Sheriff's Office reported 79 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 85 between them.
Where are people arrested in Benzie County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Benzie County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Benzie 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 Benzie County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Benzie 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 Benzie 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.