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 October 9, 2026.
Ionia County, Michigan, has about 66,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Ionia 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 Ionia 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: Ionia County public records, Michigan arrest records, Michigan inmate search and Michigan criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Ionia County
The Ionia County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Ionia County. It reported 686 arrests for 2024, its latest complete year.
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:
- Ionia, 12,265 residents: 264 arrests reported for 2025.
- Belding, 5,967 residents: 132 arrests reported for 2025.
- Portland, 3,770 residents: 73 arrests reported for 2025.
- Lake Odessa, 2,065 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2021.
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 Ionia County: the Ionia County State Police (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Ionia 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.
- Ionia: 264 for 2025, 237 for 2024, 269 for 2023, 185 for 2022, 160 for 2021 and 464 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
- Belding: 132 for 2025, 120 for 2024, 99 for 2022, 56 for 2021, 71 for 2020 and 134 for 2019; 2023 is missing months.
- Portland: 73 for 2025, 68 for 2024, 61 for 2023, 45 for 2022, 40 for 2021 and 73 for 2020.
- Ionia County Sheriff's Office: 686 for 2024.
- Lake Odessa: 0 for 2021, 0 for 2020 and 0 for 2019.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 469 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 469 in 2025 against 425 in 2024, up 10 percent.
Through September 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 339 arrests, against 347 in the same months of 2025.
Ionia County Sheriff's Office reported only part of 2025 (7 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Ionia County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Ionia 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 76 people, down from about 160 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 156 beds, and it ran at 99 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 Ionia County Sheriff's Office at ioniacounty.org/public-safety/sheriff/correctional-center (page title: Ionia County Correctional Center | Ionia County), phone (616) 527-5737, 133 Adams Street Ionia, MI 48846, Monday - Friday 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM, 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 Ionia County
Whether someone was arrested in Ionia County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Ionia County Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at micourt.courts.michigan.gov/CourtDisplay/Display/public/_L5j04rplka...); the Prosecuting Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at ioniacounty.org/departments-officials/prosecuting-attorney, phone (616) 527-5302).
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 Ionia 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 Ionia County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (616) 527-5737.
- An arrest in Ionia, Belding, Portland or Lake Odessa: 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 Ionia 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, (616) 527-5302, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Ionia County Circuit Court, through the court records page at micourt.courts.michigan.gov.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at ioniacounty.org/foia (page title: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) | Ionia County).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The other Ionia County guides go further: warrants, inmate search, criminal records, court records, police reports, traffic tickets, DUI, divorce records and property records.
Cities in Ionia County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for four of the ten cities in Ionia County: Ionia, Belding, Portland and Lake Odessa. Saranac, Lyons, Muir, Pewamo, Clarksville and Hubbardston 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 Ionia County Circuit Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Ionia County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Belding (5,967)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Ionia County each year?
Ionia reported 264 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 469 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Ionia County?
Ask the Ionia County Sheriff's Office at (616) 527-5737; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at ioniacounty.org.
Where are people arrested in Ionia County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Ionia County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Ionia 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 Ionia County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Ionia 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 ioniacounty.org/foia.
Is this the official Ionia 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.