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 September 30, 2026.

About this guide

Wayne County, Michigan, has about 1.8 million residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Wayne County Sheriff's Office, 42 city agencies and five 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 Wayne 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: Wayne County public records, Michigan arrest records, Michigan inmate search and Michigan criminal records.

Who Makes Arrests in Wayne County

The Wayne County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Wayne County. It reported 1,012 arrests for 2025.

Arrests inside 34 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, the largest twelve first; the rest are named in the cities section below:

  • Detroit, 645,705 residents: 11,464 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Dearborn, 106,377 residents: 2,225 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Livonia, 93,113 residents: 2,090 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Westland, 82,745 residents: 2,516 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Taylor, 61,544 residents: 1,481 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Dearborn Heights, 61,040 residents: 1,413 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Lincoln Park, 38,774 residents: 753 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Southgate, 29,081 residents: 455 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Allen Park, 27,604 residents: 160 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Hamtramck, 27,424 residents: 413 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Garden City, 26,410 residents: 578 arrests reported for 2025.
  • Inkster, 25,108 residents: 570 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 Northville Police Department is listed by the FBI across two counties including Wayne County, so its arrests are not broken out for Wayne County here.

The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Wayne County: the Lower Huron Metropark Huron-Clinton Metropolitan Authority and Wayne County Airport (other); Schoolcraft College and the University of Michigan at Dearborn (campus police); the Wayne County State Police (state police).

How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Wayne 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.

  • Detroit: 11,464 for 2025, 11,040 for 2024, 11,353 for 2023, 10,571 for 2022, 12,916 for 2021 and 13,891 for 2020.
  • Westland: 2,516 for 2025, 2,583 for 2024, 2,682 for 2023, 2,684 for 2022, 2,347 for 2021 and 2,141 for 2020.
  • Dearborn: 2,225 for 2025, 2,110 for 2024, 1,976 for 2023, 1,972 for 2022, 1,993 for 2021 and 2,120 for 2020.
  • Livonia: 2,090 for 2025, 1,769 for 2024, 1,705 for 2023, 1,772 for 2022, 1,804 for 2021 and 1,542 for 2020.
  • Canton Township: 1,798 for 2025, 1,683 for 2024, 1,464 for 2023, 1,705 for 2022, 1,518 for 2021 and 1,413 for 2020.
  • Taylor: 1,481 for 2025, 1,223 for 2024, 1,186 for 2023, 1,023 for 2022, 1,083 for 2021 and 1,399 for 2020.
  • Dearborn Heights: 1,413 for 2025, 1,593 for 2024, 1,304 for 2023, 1,063 for 2022, 1,196 for 2021 and 864 for 2020.
  • Wayne County Sheriff's Office: 1,012 for 2025, 1,269 for 2024, 1,386 for 2023, 1,778 for 2022, 1,970 for 2021 and 2,772 for 2020.
  • Romulus: 854 for 2025, 618 for 2024, 452 for 2023, 439 for 2022, 467 for 2021 and 522 for 2020.
  • Lincoln Park: 753 for 2025, 636 for 2024, 580 for 2023, 539 for 2022, 655 for 2021 and 734 for 2020.
  • Wyandotte: 721 for 2025, 770 for 2024, 639 for 2023, 306 for 2022, 298 for 2021 and 312 for 2020.
  • Redford Township: 679 for 2025, 724 for 2024, 862 for 2023, 659 for 2022, 667 for 2021 and 624 for 2020.

Together, the 40 agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 33,288 arrests that year. The 38 of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 33,192 in 2025 against 32,289 in 2024, up 2.8 percent.

Through August 2026, the 31 agencies with every month so far on file reported 20,238 arrests, against 20,842 in the same months of 2025.

Trenton reported only part of 2025 (11 months) and is left out of the totals.

Booking: Where People Arrested in Wayne County Are Held

The county jail is where a person arrested in Wayne 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 2023 the jail held about 1,380 people, down from about 1,830 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 1,585 beds, and it ran at 87 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.

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 Wayne County

Whether someone was arrested in Wayne County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Wayne County Circuit Court, kept by the County Clerk, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date; the Prosecuting Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at waynecountymi.gov/Government/Elected-Officials/Prosecutor, phone (313) 224-5777).

The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at courts.michigan.gov/search/?searchQuery=wayne+county (page title: Wayne County courts search), belongs to a lower court, not to the Wayne County Circuit Court.

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 Wayne 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 Wayne County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
  • An arrest in Detroit, Dearborn, Livonia, Westland, Taylor, Dearborn Heights 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 Lower Huron Metropark Huron-Clinton Metropolitan Authority, Wayne County Airport or Schoolcraft College: the records office of the agency involved.
  • A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Prosecuting Attorney, (313) 224-5777, handles discovery for pending cases.
  • The court file of a case that was filed: in the Wayne County Circuit Court it is kept by the County Clerk. The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at courts.michigan.gov, is a lower court's.
  • Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at waynecountymi.nextrequest.com (page title: FOIA RequestNextRequest | Modern FOIA & Public Records Request Software).
  • Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.

Cities in Wayne County: Who Reports the Arrests

The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for 34 of the 33 cities in Wayne County: the twelve named above and Romulus, Wyandotte, Trenton, Wayne, Grosse Pointe Woods, Harper Woods, Woodhaven, Melvindale, Riverview, Grosse Pointe Park, Flat Rock, Grosse Pointe Farms, Plymouth, Plymouth (township), Ecorse, Highland Park, River Rouge, Grosse Pointe, Gibraltar, Belleville and Rockwood. Village of Grosse Pointe Shores has no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list. The FBI's list also carries the Redford Township Police Department, the Sumpter Township Police Department, the Van Buren Township Police Department and five more as city agencies in Wayne County; Redford Township, Sumpter Township, Van Buren Township and five more are 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 Wayne County Circuit Court.

SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Wayne 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 Wayne County each year?

Detroit reported 11,464 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the 40 agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 33,288 between them.

Where are people arrested in Wayne County booked?

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

Are arrest records public in Wayne 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 Wayne County?

From the agency that made the arrest: the Wayne 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 waynecountymi.nextrequest.com.

Is this the official Wayne 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.