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.
Grand Traverse County, Michigan, has about 97,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Grand Traverse County Sheriff's Office, one city agency and two campus, state or other agencies. 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 Grand Traverse 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: Grand Traverse County public records, Michigan arrest records, Michigan inmate search and Michigan criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Grand Traverse County
The Grand Traverse County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Grand Traverse County. It reported 1,774 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists one city in Grand Traverse County with a reporting agency of its own:
- Traverse City, 15,782 residents: 661 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 these agencies in Grand Traverse County: the Grand Traverse County State Police (state police); the Northwest Regional Airport Authority (other).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Grand Traverse 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.
- Grand Traverse County Sheriff's Office: 1,774 for 2025, 1,424 for 2024, 1,607 for 2022, 1,235 for 2021, 1,323 for 2020 and 2,473 for 2019; 2023 is missing months.
- Traverse City: 661 for 2025, 438 for 2022, 328 for 2021, 366 for 2020 and 681 for 2019; 2023 and 2024 are missing months.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 2,435 arrests that year. The one of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 1,774 in 2025 against 1,424 in 2024, up 25 percent.
Through June 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 1,107 arrests, against 1,170 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Grand Traverse County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Grand Traverse 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 150 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 168 beds, and it ran at 89 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 Grand Traverse County Sheriff's Office at gtcountymi.gov/790/Corrections-Division (page title: Corrections Division | Grand Traverse County, MI), phone 231-922-4532, 320 Washington Street Traverse City, MI 49684, Monday - Friday, 8am - 4pm, 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 Grand Traverse County
Whether someone was arrested in Grand Traverse County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Grand Traverse County Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at gtcountymi.gov/679/Court-Cases); the Prosecuting Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at gtcountymi.gov/674/Prosecuting-Attorney, phone 231-922-4600).
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 Grand Traverse 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 Grand Traverse County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 231-922-4532.
- An arrest in Traverse City: 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 Grand Traverse County State Police or the Northwest Regional Airport Authority: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Prosecuting Attorney, 231-922-4600, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Grand Traverse County Circuit Court, through the court records page at gtcountymi.gov/679/Court-Cases.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at gtcountymi.gov/2259/Records-Request (page title: Records Request | Grand Traverse County, MI).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Grand Traverse County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the three cities in Grand Traverse County: Traverse City. Kingsley and Fife Lake 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 Grand Traverse County Circuit Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Grand Traverse County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Traverse City (15,782)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Grand Traverse County each year?
The Grand Traverse County Sheriff's Office reported 1,774 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 2,435 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Grand Traverse County?
Ask the Grand Traverse County Sheriff's Office at 231-922-4532; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at gtcountymi.gov/790/Corrections-Division.
Where are people arrested in Grand Traverse County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Grand Traverse County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Grand Traverse 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 Grand Traverse County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Grand Traverse 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 gtcountymi.gov/2259/Records-Request.
Is this the official Grand Traverse 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.