Sheriff’s offices in Huron, Lapeer, Lenawee, Oakland, Saint Clair and Washtenaw counties are also members, according to the same list.

Agencies policing institutions of higher education are also members, including University of Michigan Public Safety.

More than 50 fire departments are also CLEMIS members. While they do not have access to the same criminal data available to police, they can use CLEMIS for fire and EMS incident reports, personnel records management, training and more.

Member agencies include departments in Auburn Hills, Farmington Hills, Livonia, Royal Oak, South Lion and the Wayne County Airport Authority.

Nearly 50 Michigan court systems use CLEMIS, according to the Oakland County website. There are various applications offered by CLEMIS that might be useful for district court employees, ranging from access to encounters that may be relevant for probation departments to “legible tickets with immediate access in an electronic database,” according to the 2022 CLEMIS presentation.

The 6th Circuit Court in Pontiac, the main circuit court for Oakland County, is a member, as are district courts from Warren to Southfield.

Lastly, a handful of other agencies have access to CLEMIS. That includes the Michigan State Police, the FBI, U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and federal probation officers working with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

Who controls CLEMIS?

In recent months, after years of work, CLEMIS formally left the county and became a public authority. That essentially means a semipublic, standalone agency that is currently pursuing tax-exempt status.

It posts agendas and minutes, is subject to the Freedom of Information Act and publicly provides details about its funding and contracts.

“This new authority is now focused on standing up a new organization, transferring assets from the county and building new systems that will help us provide transparent, accountable and affordable services for current and new communities for the next 60 years,” reads a statement a PR firm working for CLEMIS provided to the Detroit Free Press.

“The current timeframe is to have this transition completed by September 30, 2026. Currently, CLEMIS services are being provided by existing county employees through user agreements with Oakland County.”

Why is CLEMIS controversial?

Not everyone within Oakland County government wanted CLEMIS to become its own authority, arguing doing so would obviously lead to less control of the organization.

In the months leading up to the spin-off, the county announced a whistleblower informed the administration of County Executive Dave Coulter that a company run by a county employee was awarded a six-figure contract to help with IT services for CLEMIS.

While the company never received any of the money, a subsequent county investigation revealed the awarding of the contract violated state law and county policy. Two county employees resigned, two were suspended and a county commissioner filed a report with law enforcement.

In December, a spokesman for the Michigan State Police told the Free Press the agency reviewed the complaint and “found nothing to investigate.”

More recently, critics noted ICE, the federal agency leading President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, has access to CLEMIS, including data from agencies or cities that purport not to assist with federal immigration efforts.

A Coulter spokesman said the county will not renew its contract for ICE to access CLEMIS when it expires at the end of March. Oakland County Commission Chairman Dave Woodward, who also sits on the new CLEMIS executive committee, also said he would not vote to approve any similar deal between ICE and the authority in the future.

How is CLEMIS funded?

Members pay a fee for every officer in their agency. In 2025, Bo Cheng − then a private consultant for CLEMIS while it was still under Oakland County and now its executive director after it became a separate authority − told the publication Government Technology it planned to charge each member agency $500 per officer.