Detroit 1-8-7

Deja vu all over again? While watching the new Detroit Police Homicide TV show, Detroit 187*, it feels that way. A flash from the past.

Since I walked up and down the steps of 1300 Beaubien too many times to count during the years I worked there, a touch of nostalgia creeps in when the camera pans on that address of Detroit Police Headquarters.

It was not love at first sight when I drove by 1300 Beaubien after being transferred to the Police Department. After seeing that old and gritty building I was in tears. Where was the modern building I had envisioned? I was a civilian; what was I doing going to a place where 90% of the employees had guns strapped to them and criminal rode in the elevators?

But it got better.

Where else would I have seen Leon Spinks in a full length white fur coat? Gilbert Hill entertaining a group of school kids using his "Beverly Hills Cop" voice? See Stella and her dirty laundry (literally)? Work with fascinating people? Or meet my future husband Jim (now a retired Detroit cop)?

*One of Jim's former scout car partners is a consultant who now scouts locations for Detroit 1-8-7.