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 2, 2026.
Kalamazoo County, Michigan, has about 265,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Kalamazoo County Sheriff's Office, eight city agencies and three 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 Kalamazoo 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: Kalamazoo County public records, Michigan arrest records, Michigan inmate search and Michigan criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Kalamazoo County
The Kalamazoo County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Kalamazoo County. It reported 389 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists seven cities in Kalamazoo County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Kalamazoo, 73,290 residents: 2,303 arrests reported for 2025.
- Kalamazoo (township), 73,290 residents: 980 arrests reported for 2025.
- Portage, 49,975 residents: 1,021 arrests reported for 2025.
- Vicksburg, 3,976 residents: 40 arrests reported for 2025.
- Schoolcraft, 1,448 residents: 3 arrests reported for 2025.
- Richland, 953 residents: 1 arrests reported for 2025.
- Augusta, 848 residents: 2 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 Kalamazoo County: Kalamazoo Valley Community College and Western Michigan University (campus police); the Kalamazoo County State Police (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Kalamazoo 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.
- Kalamazoo: 2,303 for 2025, 2,508 for 2024, 2,360 for 2023, 2,323 for 2022, 1,943 for 2021 and 2,221 for 2020.
- Portage: 1,021 for 2025, 1,255 for 2024, 1,164 for 2023, 1,118 for 2022, 886 for 2021 and 847 for 2020.
- Kalamazoo (township): 980 for 2025, 1,023 for 2024, 805 for 2023, 700 for 2022, 688 for 2021 and 631 for 2020.
- Kalamazoo County Sheriff's Office: 389 for 2025, 385 for 2024, 1,345 for 2020 and 1,749 for 2019; 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
- Vicksburg: 40 for 2025, 45 for 2024, 41 for 2023, 48 for 2022, 31 for 2021 and 22 for 2020.
- Schoolcraft: 3 for 2025, 3 for 2024, 6 for 2023, 5 for 2022, 15 for 2021 and 9 for 2020.
- Augusta: 2 for 2025, 2 for 2024, 1 for 2023, 5 for 2022, 3 for 2021 and 1 for 2020.
- Richland: 1 for 2025, 16 for 2024, 19 for 2023, 25 for 2022, 21 for 2021 and 19 for 2020.
- Ross Township: 0 for 2025.
Together, the nine agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 4,739 arrests that year. The eight of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 4,739 in 2025 against 5,237 in 2024, down 9.5 percent.
Through May 2026, the seven agencies with every month so far on file reported 1,565 arrests, against 1,491 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Kalamazoo County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Kalamazoo 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 2023 the jail held about 300 people, down from about 390 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 482 beds, and it ran at 62 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the Kalamazoo County Sheriff's Office at kalcounty.gov/1215/Inmate-Search (page title: Inmate Search | Kalamazoo County, MI), phone 269-488-8911, 1500 Lamont Ave. Kalamazoo, MI 49048, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
That page is the place to look for someone who was booked recently; a person cited and released at the scene, or held only a few hours by a city department, will not be on it.
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 Kalamazoo County
Whether someone was arrested in Kalamazoo County, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the Kalamazoo County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Kalamazoo 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=kalamazoo+county); the Prosecuting Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at kalcounty.gov/754/Prosecuting-Attorney, phone 269-383-8900).
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 Kalamazoo 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 Kalamazoo County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 269-488-8911.
- An arrest in Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo (township), Portage, Vicksburg, Schoolcraft, Richland or another of the cities listed above: 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 Kalamazoo Valley Community College, the Kalamazoo County State Police or Western Michigan University: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Prosecuting Attorney, 269-383-8900, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Kalamazoo 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 Kalamazoo County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for seven of the nine cities in Kalamazoo County: Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo (township), Portage, Vicksburg, Schoolcraft, Richland and Augusta. Galesburg, Parchment and Climax have no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list. The FBI's list also carries the Ross Township Police Department as a city agency in Kalamazoo County; Ross 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 Kalamazoo County Circuit Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Kalamazoo County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Portage (49,975)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Kalamazoo County each year?
Kalamazoo reported 2,303 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the nine agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 4,739 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Kalamazoo County?
Look on the custody page of the Kalamazoo County Sheriff's Office at kalcounty.gov/1215/Inmate-Search, or call 269-488-8911. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Kalamazoo County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Kalamazoo County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Kalamazoo 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 Kalamazoo County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Kalamazoo 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 Kalamazoo 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.