SearchSystems Editorial

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.

About this guide

Kent County, Michigan, has about 673,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Kent County Sheriff's Office, nine 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 Kent 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: Kent County public records, Michigan arrest records, Michigan inmate search and Michigan criminal records.

Who Makes Arrests in Kent County

The Kent County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Kent County. It reported 4,154 arrests for 2025.

Arrests inside nine 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:

  • Grand Rapids, 200,117 residents: 5,736 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Wyoming, 78,559 residents: 1,896 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Kentwood, 54,768 residents: 962 arrests reported for 2020.
  • Walker, 25,921 residents: 938 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Grandville, 17,094 residents: 480 arrests reported for 2025.
  • East Grand Rapids, 11,616 residents: 83 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Rockford, 6,291 residents: 36 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Sparta, 4,323 residents: 39 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Lowell, 4,153 residents: 19 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 Kent County: the Kent County State Police (state police); Grand Rapids Community College (campus police); Gerald R. Ford International Airport (other).

How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Kent 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 Rapids: 5,736 for 2025, 4,995 for 2024, 4,273 for 2023, 4,235 for 2022, 4,344 for 2021 and 3,634 for 2020.
  • Kent County Sheriff's Office: 4,154 for 2025, 3,665 for 2024, 3,952 for 2023, 3,566 for 2022, 3,365 for 2021 and 2,711 for 2020.
  • Wyoming: 1,896 for 2025, 1,775 for 2024, 2,175 for 2023, 1,841 for 2022, 1,687 for 2021 and 1,368 for 2020.
  • Walker: 938 for 2025, 848 for 2024, 679 for 2023, 715 for 2022, 652 for 2021 and 805 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
  • Grandville: 480 for 2025, 482 for 2024, 412 for 2023, 287 for 2022, 262 for 2021 and 287 for 2020.
  • East Grand Rapids: 83 for 2025, 157 for 2024, 81 for 2023, 58 for 2022, 40 for 2021 and 139 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
  • Sparta: 39 for 2025, 45 for 2024, 46 for 2023, 40 for 2022, 30 for 2021 and 27 for 2020.
  • Rockford: 36 for 2025, 71 for 2024, 71 for 2023, 71 for 2022, 56 for 2021 and 46 for 2020.
  • Lowell: 19 for 2025, 33 for 2024, 46 for 2023, 34 for 2022, 65 for 2021 and 49 for 2020.
  • Kentwood: 962 for 2020 and 1,326 for 2019.

Together, the nine agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 13,381 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 13,381 in 2025 against 12,071 in 2024, up 11 percent.

Through September 2026, the seven agencies with every month so far on file reported 2,258 arrests, against 2,645 in the same months of 2025.

Kentwood reported only part of 2025 (10 months) and is left out of the totals.

Booking: Where People Arrested in Kent County Are Held

A person kept in custody after an arrest in Kent 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 2024 the jail held about 940 people, down from about 1,100 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 1,477 beds, and it ran at 63 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 Kent County Sheriff's Office at eisjailviewer.kentcountymi.gov (page title: Web Jail Viewer), 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 Kent County

Whether someone was arrested in Kent County, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the Kent County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Kent County Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at kentcountymi.gov/1036/Search-Court-Records); the Prosecuting Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at kentcountymi.gov/1103/Prosecutors-Office, phone 616-632-6710).

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 Kent 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 Kent County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
  • An arrest in Grand Rapids, Wyoming, Kentwood, Walker, Grandville, East Grand Rapids 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 the Kent County State Police, Grand Rapids Community College or Gerald R. Ford International Airport: the records office of the agency involved.
  • A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Prosecuting Attorney, 616-632-6710, handles discovery for pending cases.
  • The court file of a case that was filed: the Kent County Circuit Court, through the court records page at kentcountymi.gov/1036/Search-Court-Records.
  • Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at kentcountymi.gov (page title: FOIA (Public Record Requests) | Kent County, MI).
  • Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.

Cities in Kent County: Who Reports the Arrests

The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for nine of the 13 cities in Kent County: Grand Rapids, Wyoming, Kentwood, Walker, Grandville, East Grand Rapids, Rockford, Sparta and Lowell. Cedar Springs, Caledonia, Kent City and Sand 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 Kent County Circuit Court.

SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Kent County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:

Frequently Asked Questions

How many arrests are made in Kent County each year?

Grand Rapids reported 5,736 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the nine agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 13,381 between them.

How do I find out if someone is in jail in Kent County?

Look on the custody page of the Kent County Sheriff's Office at eisjailviewer.kentcountymi.gov. It covers people booked into the county jail.

Where are people arrested in Kent County booked?

Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Kent County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.

Are arrest records public in Kent 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 Kent County?

From the agency that made the arrest: the Kent 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 kentcountymi.gov.

Is this the official Kent 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.