Van Buren County Arrest Records
Van Buren County arrest records are public documents created when someone is taken into custody in this southwestern Michigan county along the Lake Michigan shoreline. The county seat is Paw Paw, where the sheriff, the 36th Circuit Court, and the county jail are all located. These records are accessible through the Van Buren County Sheriff's Office, the statewide ICHAT criminal history system, and the Michigan court case search. This page walks through each tool so you know where to start and what each one gives you.
Van Buren County Overview
Van Buren County Sheriff's Office and Jail
The Van Buren County Sheriff's Office is the main law enforcement and detention authority in the county. You can reach the sheriff at 269-657-2006. The office is in Paw Paw and operates the county jail. The sheriff handles patrol for unincorporated areas of the county and arrests made outside city limits. The sheriff's website is at vanburencountymi.gov.
Jail booking records are public under Michigan's Freedom of Information Act, MCL 15.231 et seq. If you want to know whether someone is currently held at the Van Buren County Jail, calling the jail line at 269-657-2006 is your fastest option. For a copy of a booking report or arrest report, you need to submit a written FOIA request. Include the person's name, the approximate date of the incident, and any other details you have. The office has five business days under state law to respond with records, a written denial, or notice that more time is needed.
Keep in mind that the sheriff covers county patrol but not arrests made by city police departments in communities like South Haven, Bangor, Decatur, or Hartford. Those departments maintain their own records and respond to their own FOIA requests separately. If you are not sure which department made a specific arrest, start with the sheriff's office and ask. They can usually point you toward the right agency without much trouble.
Michigan State Police also patrol this county, especially on US-131 and I-196, which both run through Van Buren County. Records from MSP activity are held separately and require their own FOIA request through the MSP portal rather than the county sheriff.
ICHAT: Michigan Statewide Criminal History
ICHAT is the Internet Criminal History Access Tool run by the Michigan State Police under MCL 28.241. It gives the public access to Michigan criminal history records for a flat $10 fee. Run a search at apps.michigan.gov using a name and date of birth. Results cover all 83 Michigan counties in a single report, available right away as a PDF download.
For Van Buren County, ICHAT is useful because it pulls together arrests and convictions from across the state. If someone was first arrested in Van Buren County and then had later cases in Kalamazoo or Berrien County, all of it shows up in a single result. That makes ICHAT more complete than calling individual sheriffs or clerks in each county separately. It also saves time when you do not know exactly where prior incidents occurred.
There are things ICHAT does not include. Arrests that did not lead to formal charges may not appear. Juvenile records are excluded by law. Records set aside under Michigan's Clean Slate law, MCL 780.621g, are removed from public view in ICHAT. The system is also not updated in real time, so a very recent arrest can take a few days to appear. For the most current local information, calling the Van Buren County Sheriff at 269-657-2006 is still the better first step.
The Michigan court case search at courts.michigan.gov/case-search is free and covers cases filed in the 36th Circuit Court and local district courts. The screenshot below shows what the portal looks like.
Search by name and filter by court or county to find Van Buren County cases specifically. Both circuit and district court records appear in the same tool.
36th Circuit Court and District Court Records
Felony criminal cases in Van Buren County are heard by the 36th Circuit Court in Paw Paw. Misdemeanor and traffic cases go to the district courts serving different parts of the county. Both court levels appear in the Michigan court case search at courts.michigan.gov/case-search. The search is free and you can look up cases by name or case number without creating an account.
Case search results include the type of charge, the filing date, court events, and the final outcome if the case has closed. This is useful after you have confirmed an arrest, because it tells you what happened next. Whether charges were filed, whether there was a plea or a trial, and what sentence was handed down if any are all visible in court records. Court files in Van Buren County are public unless a judge has ordered them sealed. Most adult criminal matters are open to anyone who wants to look.
You can also visit the Van Buren County Courthouse in Paw Paw to review case files in person or request certified copies. Certified copies carry the court's official seal and are typically needed for legal proceedings or government applications. Plain copies are sufficient for most informational purposes and cost less. The clerk can tell you the current fees and how long it takes to prepare copies for your specific request type.
One thing to note: the court case search shows cases that were actually filed in court. An arrest does not always lead to a filed case. If someone was arrested but you cannot find a matching court case, it may simply mean charges were not pursued. The sheriff's office can sometimes explain why a case did not move forward.
OTIS: State Prison Records for Van Buren County
OTIS is the Michigan Department of Corrections Offender Tracking Information System. It covers people sentenced to Michigan state prison. If someone arrested in Van Buren County was convicted of a felony and sent to state prison, they will appear in OTIS. The search is free at mdocweb.state.mi.us/otis2. Search by name or MDOC number.
OTIS results include a photo, the commitment offense, sentence dates, the facility where the person is currently held, and parole or supervision status. OTIS only covers people in the state prison system, not the county jail. Someone currently held in Van Buren County Jail will not appear there. But for anyone who received a significant felony sentence originating from a Van Buren County arrest, OTIS is the right place to check.
Michigan Sex Offender Registry in Van Buren County
The Michigan Public Sex Offender Registry is maintained by the Michigan State Police under MCL 28.721. It is free to search at mspsor.com. You can filter results by county to see all registered offenders in Van Buren County. Each result includes a photo, current address, registration tier, and the conviction offense that triggered registration. No account or payment is required.
All registered offenders in Michigan must keep their address current with law enforcement. Van Buren County law enforcement works with MSP to monitor compliance. The county borders Lake Michigan to the west and has communities ranging from the South Haven shoreline to inland farm towns. The registry covers the entire county equally. Search by zip code to focus on a specific area. For anyone checking who is registered near a particular address or neighborhood, the PSOR tool is the most current and official source the state offers.
FOIA Requests for Van Buren County Records
Michigan's Freedom of Information Act under MCL 15.231 et seq. gives any person the right to inspect and copy public records held by government agencies. For Van Buren County, this means arrest reports, incident reports, jail logs, and booking records held by the county sheriff or local police departments in South Haven, Bangor, Hartford, and Decatur are available on request.
To submit a FOIA request to the Van Buren County Sheriff, write a request that clearly identifies the records you want. Submit it to the sheriff's office in Paw Paw in person, by mail, or through the county's website at vanburencountymi.gov. Include the subject's name, the approximate date, and the nature of the incident. The five-day response window begins when the agency receives the written request. The agency may charge a fee for copying and staff time, and they must give you an itemized cost estimate before charging anything.
For records from Michigan State Police activity in Van Buren County, use the MSP FOIA portal at michigan.gov/msp/services/foia. MSP troopers regularly patrol US-131 and I-196 through the county. Requests to MSP follow the same procedures and timeline as requests to local agencies. If you are not sure whether the arresting agency was the county sheriff or MSP, you can check with both to make sure you get the right records.
Michigan Clean Slate Law and Expungement
Michigan's Clean Slate law under MCL 780.621g lets certain people apply to have criminal convictions set aside. When a record is set aside, it is removed from public view in ICHAT. Court records may still exist at the clerk's office, but they are not open to the public after expungement. This means an ICHAT result may not show everything if older convictions have been cleared under this law.
Automatic expungements under Clean Slate began processing in April 2023 for older low-level offenses that met the eligibility criteria, without requiring the person to file a petition. Other convictions still require a formal petition filed with the circuit court. For Van Buren County cases, those petitions go to the 36th Circuit Court in Paw Paw. If you search ICHAT and find nothing, it is possible a record was set aside rather than never existing. The circuit court clerk can confirm whether a petition was filed, though the sealed record itself is not publicly accessible. People seeking to expunge their own Wexford County records can contact the circuit court clerk for guidance on petition forms and filing fees.
Nearby Counties
Van Buren County is surrounded by several other southwestern Michigan counties, each with their own sheriff and circuit court records systems.