Privacy in Michigan for first responders

What protects you in Michigan

Michigan gives officers a few real protections, but no law that forces data brokers to take down your home address.

The main state tool is a Freedom of Information Act exemption. The Michigan FOIA is the law that lets anyone request records a public agency holds. Under MCL 15.243(1)(s), a law enforcement agency may withhold the personal address and phone number of an active or retired officer, and the same details for family members, from records it releases. Two limits matter. It is discretionary, so an agency can withhold but a court can still weigh disclosure against the public interest. And it covers only records held by a law enforcement agency, so it does nothing about the county register of deeds, the Secretary of State, or a commercial broker.

Michigan also runs an Address Confidentiality Program through the Attorney General's office. It gives you a substitute mailing address and shields your real one in state and local records, including your voter registration and your driver's license. The program is built around victims of stalking, domestic violence, human trafficking, and sexual assault. The statute also lets anyone apply who can attest under oath that disclosing their address would increase their risk of being threatened or physically harmed (MCL 780.855). There is no automatic officer enrollment, so you apply on that threat basis and are approved case by case.

What Michigan does not have is a broker-removal statute. There is no state equivalent of New Jersey's Daniel's Law, the law that lets covered officers demand data brokers remove their home address and sue if a broker refuses. No Michigan statute compels a broker to take down your address.

What still leaks

1. County property records. Michigan registers of deeds publish deeds and property records online, and there is no statewide officer redaction. A home purchase or sale feeds your address into the broker pipeline.
2. DMV records. Michigan has no officer-specific confidentiality election at the Secretary of State. The federal DPPA restricts commercial resale of DMV data, but brokers source addresses from many other places.
3. Voter rolls. Michigan's Qualified Voter File is a public record. Your name, residential address, and year of birth are available through a records request unless you are enrolled in the Address Confidentiality Program. Enrolling is the only way to keep your voter address out of that file.
4. Out-of-state and commercial brokers. Spokeo, Whitepages, and BeenVerified do not answer to Michigan's FOIA exemption. They pull from national aggregators and republish your address regardless of your job.

Laws to know

• MCL 15.243(1)(s): the Michigan FOIA exemption that lets a law enforcement agency withhold an officer's home address, phone number, and family details from records it holds. It is discretionary and limited to that agency's own records. Ask your records officer whether the flag is set on your file.
• Address Confidentiality Program (2020 PA 301, MCL 780.851 et seq.): the substitute-address program run by the Attorney General. Approval shields your address in state and local records, including your voter file and driver's license. You apply and qualify individually.
• DPPA: the federal Driver's Privacy Protection Act. It limits who can obtain and resell the personal information in your DMV file. It is a floor, not a broker-removal tool.

What we do that the state doesn't

Michigan's protections stop at records the state and its agencies control. They do nothing about the people-search sites, where a home address is one search away. That is where we work.

We find the data-broker and people-search pages that list you, file opt-out and removal requests, and confirm when a listing comes down. We keep checking and refile when your information reappears. A move or a property sale is the fastest way for a fresh address to land back in broker feeds, so we watch for reappearances after a change like that.

A 2026 Grand Rapids case shows the stakes. After a fatal police shooting, a man posted the name, home address, and family details of someone he wrongly identified as the officer. The target had no connection to the shooting and moved his family out of their home over the threats that followed. Read the case. A broker page turns a name into an address, and that address ties to everyone who lives there. Getting yours off those pages is the layer Michigan law leaves to you.