About forty years ago in an attempt to improve community relations the Detroit Police Department created dozens of what were called 'mini stations' across the city. The idea was to have small offices with perhaps five police stationed in them, where citizens might drop in and more readily discuss issues of crime and policy. Not a bad thing, really, but also not really the point of my tale.
The mini stations were rarely free standing but were rather housed in larger buildings with available office space. One such instance was when a station had been put on the ground floor of a senior citizen high rise on the west side of Detroit. It was placed there reasonably enough for seniors to have access to police services. Not a bad thing really, but also not really the point of my tale.
One day I was driving past the aforementioned senior citizen high rise with a friend of mine as a passenger; I'll call him Cloyce just to give him a name. As the high rise was centered to a large city block, a sign proclaiming that a Detroit Police Mini station was in it had been placed out at the intersection of two near cross streets. You know, to let everyone know it was there.
The traffic light at the intersection caught me. After a moment Cloyce incredulously says, obviously after seeing the sign, "That's a Mini Station?"
Not thinking much about it I answered simply, "Yeah."
Cloyce continued in amazement, "How big is a regular police station?"
And that is the point of my tale.
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