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.
Iron County, Michigan, has about 12,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Iron 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 Iron 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: Iron County public records, Michigan arrest records, Michigan inmate search and Michigan criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Iron County
The Iron County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Iron County. It reported 41 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists three cities in Iron County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Iron River, 3,017 residents: 53 arrests reported for 2025.
- Crystal Falls, 1,601 residents: 1 arrests reported for 2025.
- Caspian, 818 residents: 4 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 Iron County: the Iron County State Police (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Iron 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.
- Iron River: 53 for 2025, 82 for 2024, 68 for 2023, 74 for 2022, 57 for 2021 and 35 for 2020.
- Iron County Sheriff's Office: 41 for 2025, 0 for 2020 and 3 for 2019; 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 are missing months.
- Caspian: 4 for 2025, 6 for 2024, 2 for 2022, 8 for 2021, 5 for 2020 and 8 for 2019; 2023 is missing months.
- Crystal Falls: 1 for 2025, 0 for 2024, 17 for 2020 and 38 for 2019; 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
Together, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 99 arrests that year. The three of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 58 in 2025 against 88 in 2024, down 34 percent.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Iron County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Iron 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 18 people, down from about 26 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 26 beds, and it ran at 100 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 Iron County Sheriff's Office at ironmi.com/sheriffs-office (page title: Iron County Sheriff's Office | Upper Peninsula of Michigan), phone (906) 875-0650, 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 Iron County
Whether someone was arrested in Iron County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Iron 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/case-search); the Prosecuting Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at ironmi.com/prosecuting-attorney, phone 906-875-6628).
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 Iron 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 Iron County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (906) 875-0650.
- An arrest in Iron River, Crystal Falls or Caspian: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by the Iron 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, 906-875-6628, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Iron County Circuit Court, through the court records page at micourt.courts.michigan.gov/case-search.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Iron County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for three of the five cities in Iron County: Iron River, Crystal Falls and Caspian. Gaastra and Alpha 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 Iron County Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Iron County each year?
Iron River reported 53 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the four agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 99 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Iron County?
Ask the Iron County Sheriff's Office at (906) 875-0650; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at ironmi.com/sheriffs-office.
Where are people arrested in Iron County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Iron County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Iron 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 Iron County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Iron 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 Iron 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.