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.
Branch County, Michigan, has about 46,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Branch County Sheriff's Office, four city agencies 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 Branch 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: Branch County public records, Michigan arrest records, Michigan inmate search and Michigan criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Branch County
The Branch County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Branch County. It reported 167 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside four of the county's cities are reported to the FBI by an agency of the city's own, listed here with the Census population and what each reported:
- Coldwater, 14,314 residents: 261 arrests reported for 2025.
- Bronson, 2,322 residents: 8 arrests reported for 2025.
- Union City, 1,730 residents: 10 arrests reported for 2022.
- Quincy, 1,566 residents: 11 arrests reported for 2023.
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 Branch County: the Branch County State Police (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Branch 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.
- Coldwater: 261 for 2025, 222 for 2024, 217 for 2023, 198 for 2022, 203 for 2021 and 250 for 2020.
- Branch County Sheriff's Office: 167 for 2025, 69 for 2023, 51 for 2022, 60 for 2021, 53 for 2020 and 59 for 2019; 2024 is missing months.
- Bronson: 8 for 2025, 16 for 2024, 23 for 2023, 22 for 2022, 25 for 2021 and 29 for 2020.
- Quincy: 11 for 2023, 16 for 2022, 23 for 2021, 14 for 2020 and 28 for 2019.
- Union City: 10 for 2022, 2 for 2021, 0 for 2020 and 1 for 2019.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 436 arrests that year. The two of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 269 in 2025 against 238 in 2024, up 13 percent.
Through June 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 173 arrests, against 198 in the same months of 2025.
Quincy reported only part of 2025 (1 month) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Branch County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Branch 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 98 people, down from about 110 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 142 beds, and it ran at 78 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 Branch County Sheriff's Office at branchcounty.gov/sheriff/jail (page title: Corrections | Branch County, Michigan), phone 517.278.2325, 379 Keith Wilhelm Dr. Coldwater, MI 49036, 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 Branch County
An arrest in Branch County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Branch County Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at branchcounty.gov/departments/county-clerk/court-record-searches, phone 517.279.4306); the Prosecuting Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at branchcounty.gov/departments/prosecuting-attorney, phone 517.279.4319).
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 Branch 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 Branch County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 517.278.2325.
- An arrest in Coldwater, Bronson, Union City or Quincy: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by the Branch 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, 517.279.4319, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Branch County Circuit Court, through the court records page at branchcounty.gov, phone 517.279.4306.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Branch County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for four of the five cities in Branch County: Coldwater, Bronson, Union City and Quincy. Sherwood has 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 Branch County Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Branch County each year?
Coldwater reported 261 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 436 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Branch County?
Ask the Branch County Sheriff's Office at 517.278.2325; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at branchcounty.gov/sheriff/jail.
Where are people arrested in Branch County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Branch County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Branch 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 Branch County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Branch 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 Branch 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.