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.
Chippewa County, Michigan, has about 36,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Chippewa County Sheriff's Office, two 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 Chippewa 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: Chippewa County public records, Michigan arrest records, Michigan inmate search and Michigan criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Chippewa County
The Chippewa County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Chippewa County. It reported 125 arrests for 2025.
One city in Chippewa County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- Sault Ste. Marie, 13,288 residents: 325 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 Chippewa County: the Chippewa County State Police (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Chippewa 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.
- Sault Ste. Marie: 325 for 2025, 368 for 2024, 320 for 2023, 271 for 2022, 249 for 2021 and 285 for 2020.
- Chippewa County Sheriff's Office: 125 for 2025, 197 for 2024, 187 for 2023, 205 for 2022, 276 for 2021 and 192 for 2020.
- Kinross Township: 6 for 2025, 6 for 2024, 7 for 2023, 16 for 2022, 11 for 2021 and 18 for 2020.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 456 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 456 in 2025 against 571 in 2024, down 20 percent.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Chippewa County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Chippewa 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 110 people, down from about 130 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 146 beds, and it ran at 91 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 Chippewa County Sheriff's Office at chippewacountymi.gov/sheriff-correctional-facility (page title: SHERIFF CORRECTIONAL FACILITY | Chippewa County), phone 906-635-6883, 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 Chippewa County
Whether someone was arrested in Chippewa County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Chippewa County Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at chippewacountymi.gov/clerk); the Prosecuting Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at chippewacountymi.gov/proscuting-attorney, phone 906-635-6342).
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 Chippewa 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 Chippewa County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 906-635-6883.
- An arrest in Sault Ste. Marie: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by the Chippewa 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, 906-635-6342, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Chippewa County Circuit Court, through the court records page at chippewacountymi.gov/clerk.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at chippewacountymi.gov/about-3 (page title: FOIA | Chippewa County).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Chippewa County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the two cities in Chippewa County: Sault Ste. Marie. De Tour Village has no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list. The FBI's list also carries the Kinross Township Police Department as a city agency in Chippewa County; Kinross Township 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 Chippewa County Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Chippewa County each year?
Sault Ste. Marie reported 325 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 456 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Chippewa County?
Ask the Chippewa County Sheriff's Office at 906-635-6883; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at chippewacountymi.gov.
Where are people arrested in Chippewa County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Chippewa County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Chippewa 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 Chippewa County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Chippewa 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 chippewacountymi.gov/about-3.
Is this the official Chippewa 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.