Search Cass County Booking Reports
Cass County booking reports are held by the sheriff's office in Cassopolis. When someone gets arrested in Cass County, they go through booking at the county jail. The booking report captures their name, charges, arrest date, and other intake details. Cass County is a smaller rural county in southwest Michigan, so the jail does not have an online inmate search tool. To find booking reports here, you will need to contact the sheriff's office by phone or submit a FOIA request. The records are public under Michigan law, and the office is required to respond to valid requests within five business days.
Cass County Booking Reports Overview
Cass County Sheriff's Office Records
The Cass County Sheriff's Office sits in Cassopolis. They run the county jail and keep all booking reports for arrests in Cass County. The office handles records requests during normal business hours. When you call (269) 445-8644, ask for the jail division or records clerk. They can look up current inmates and check for past booking records if you give them a name and approximate date.
Cass County does not post jail rosters online like some bigger counties do. This means you cannot just search a website to find who is in the jail right now. You have to call or go in person. Some people find this frustrating, but smaller counties in Michigan often lack the budget for online tools. The records still exist and you still have a right to access them. It just takes a bit more effort on your end to get them.
The jail books people from across the county. Dowagiac, Marcellus, Edwardsburg, and other small towns in Cass County all feed into the same jail. Local police can make arrests in their town, but the county jail handles the booking process and creates the report.
Note: Cass County shares its western border with Indiana, so cross-state arrests may involve different jurisdictions and separate booking systems.
FOIA Requests for Cass County Booking Reports
The Michigan Freedom of Information Act at MCL 15.231 through 15.246 is how you formally request booking reports from the Cass County Sheriff's Office. You can submit a FOIA request in writing. Include the person's name, approximate date of arrest, and what records you want. The office has five business days to respond. They can extend that by ten more days if they send you a written notice explaining why they need extra time.
Fees vary based on how long it takes the office to pull the records. They can charge for search time, copying, and mailing costs. But Michigan law waives the first $20 for people who receive public assistance or who show they cannot afford the fees. That waiver covers up to two requests per year. Under MCL 750.491, all official records created by state and local agencies in Michigan are public property. The sheriff cannot simply refuse to hand them over without citing a specific legal exemption.
Statewide Searches for Cass County Records
If someone from Cass County ended up in state prison, the OTIS database will have their record. OTIS is free. It shows the offense, sentence, facility, and release date. But it only covers the state corrections system. People in the Cass County jail waiting for trial will not show up on OTIS at all.
The ICHAT system through the Michigan State Police costs $10 per name search. It pulls up felonies and serious misdemeanors tied to a person's name and date of birth. ICHAT covers the whole state, so a conviction in Cass County will show up alongside convictions from other counties. It does not show pending charges, active warrants, or cases that got dismissed.
MI-VINE lets you track inmates for free. Sign up to get alerts when someone's status changes at the Cass County jail or a state facility. The system sends updates by phone, email, or text. It covers releases, transfers, and court dates.
Cass County Court Records
Cass County has both a circuit court and a district court. The circuit court handles felony cases. The district court takes misdemeanors and preliminary exams. Both courts keep their own case files that tie back to the original booking report from the jail. The Michigan Courts website can help you find case information and court schedules for Cass County.
A booking report shows the arrest. Court records show what happened after. If you want the full story on a case, you need both. The booking report gives you the charges at intake. The court records show whether those charges stuck, got reduced, or were dropped entirely. For expunged cases, Michigan's Clean Slate program may have sealed both the booking report and the court record from public view.
Note: Under MCL 750.492, records custodians must provide at least four hours of daily public access to official records or face misdemeanor charges.
How to Get Cass County Booking Reports
Getting booking reports from Cass County takes a few steps. The county does not have online search tools for jail records. But you still have solid options to find what you need.
- Call the Cass County jail at (269) 445-8644
- Visit the sheriff's office in Cassopolis in person
- File a FOIA request in writing for specific records
- Search OTIS for free state prison records
- Run an ICHAT search for $10 statewide criminal history
- Register on MI-VINE for custody status alerts
The Michigan Legislature website has the full text of FOIA at MCL 15.231 and related statutes. Check it before you file a request so you know exactly what the law says about your right to access these records. You can also look up MCL 28.721 for sex offender registry rules if that applies to your search.
The Michigan Sex Offender Registry tracks registered offenders in Cass County and across the state under the Sex Offenders Registration Act.
The Michigan State Police site above provides access to ICHAT and other tools useful for finding Cass County booking records and criminal history data.
Nearby Counties
Cass County borders a few other Michigan counties that keep their own booking reports. If you need records from a neighboring area, try these: