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.
Gratiot County, Michigan, has about 41,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Gratiot 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 Gratiot 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: Gratiot County public records, Michigan arrest records, Michigan inmate search and Michigan criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Gratiot County
The Gratiot County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Gratiot County. It reported 254 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists two cities in Gratiot County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Alma, 9,349 residents: 351 arrests reported for 2025.
- St. Louis, 7,465 residents: 90 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 Gratiot County: the Gratiot County State Police (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Gratiot 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.
- Alma: 351 for 2025, 352 for 2024, 381 for 2023, 289 for 2022, 202 for 2021 and 167 for 2020.
- Gratiot County Sheriff's Office: 254 for 2025, 231 for 2024, 283 for 2023, 267 for 2022, 171 for 2021 and 192 for 2020.
- St. Louis: 90 for 2025, 75 for 2024, 77 for 2023, 46 for 2022 and 100 for 2019; 2020 and 2021 are missing months.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 695 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 695 in 2025 against 658 in 2024, up 5.6 percent.
Through September 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 586 arrests, against 496 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Gratiot County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Gratiot County is held at the county jail, whichever agency made the arrest, apart from the short stay some city departments' own holding cells allow; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked at all. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and the court file takes over from there.
On an average day in 2020 the jail held about 35 people, down from about 60 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 72 beds, and it ran at 83 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 Gratiot County Sheriff's Office at gratiotmi.com/344/Sheriffs-Office (page title: Sheriff’s Office | Gratiot County, MI), phone 989-875-5214, 226 E Center Street Ithaca, MI 48847, Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 28, 2026.
A sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the Michigan Department of Corrections lists its inmates at mdocweb.state.mi.us/otis2.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Gratiot County
Whether someone was arrested in Gratiot County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Gratiot 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=gratiot); the Prosecuting Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at gratiotmi.com/342/Prosecuting-Attorney, phone 989-875-5236).
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 Gratiot 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 Gratiot County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 989-875-5214.
- An arrest in Alma or St. Louis: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by the Gratiot 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, 989-875-5236, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Gratiot County Circuit Court, through the court records page at courts.michigan.gov.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Gratiot County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for two of the six cities in Gratiot County: Alma and St. Louis. Ithaca, Breckenridge, Ashley and Perrinton 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 Gratiot County Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Gratiot County each year?
Alma reported 351 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 695 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Gratiot County?
Ask the Gratiot County Sheriff's Office at 989-875-5214; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at gratiotmi.com/344/Sheriffs-Office.
Where are people arrested in Gratiot County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Gratiot County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Gratiot 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 Gratiot County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Gratiot 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 Gratiot 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.