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.
Cass County, Michigan, has about 52,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Cass County Sheriff's Office, three 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 Cass 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: Cass County public records, Michigan arrest records, Michigan inmate search and Michigan criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Cass County
The Cass County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Cass County. It reported 267 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists two cities in Cass County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Dowagiac, 5,742 residents: 160 arrests reported for 2025.
- Cassopolis, 1,707 residents: 29 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 Cass County: the Cass County State Police (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Cass 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.
- Cass County Sheriff's Office: 267 for 2025, 177 for 2024, 116 for 2023 and 113 for 2022.
- Dowagiac: 160 for 2025, 175 for 2024, 172 for 2023, 129 for 2022, 110 for 2021 and 111 for 2020.
- Ontwa Township-Edwardsburg: 40 for 2025, 86 for 2024, 78 for 2023, 186 for 2022, 111 for 2021 and 120 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
- Cassopolis: 29 for 2025, 21 for 2024, 22 for 2023, 15 for 2022, 6 for 2021 and 14 for 2020.
Together, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 496 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 496 in 2025 against 459 in 2024, up 8.1 percent.
Through September 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 474 arrests, against 340 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Cass County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Cass 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 2019 the jail held about 120 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 116 beds, and it ran at 108 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 Cass County Sheriff's Office at casscountymi.org/1520/Sheriffs-Office (page title: Sheriff's Office | Cass County, MI), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 28, 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 Cass County
An arrest in Cass County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Cass County Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at courts.michigan.gov/search/?searchQuery=cass+county); the Prosecuting Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at casscountymi.org/1194/Prosecuting-Attorney, phone (269) 445-4460).
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 Cass 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 Cass County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Dowagiac or Cassopolis: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- An arrest by the Cass 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, (269) 445-4460, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Cass County Circuit Court, through the court records page at courts.michigan.gov.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at casscountymi.org/163/Record-Requests (page title: Record Requests | Cass County, MI).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Cass County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for two of the five cities in Cass County: Dowagiac and Cassopolis. Edwardsburg, Marcellus and Vandalia have no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list. The FBI's list also carries the Ontwa Township-Edwardsburg Police Department as a city agency in Cass County; Ontwa Township-Edwardsburg is not among the cities above.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Cass County Circuit Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Cass County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Dowagiac (5,742)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Cass County each year?
The Cass County Sheriff's Office reported 267 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the four agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 496 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Cass County?
Ask the Cass County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at casscountymi.org/1520/Sheriffs-Office.
Where are people arrested in Cass County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Cass County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Cass 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 Cass County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Cass 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; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at casscountymi.org/163/Record-Requests.
Is this the official Cass 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.