The Detroit Public Safety Headquarters, located at 1301 Third Street in

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

, is a law enforcement and fire department complex which houses the headquarters for the

Detroit Police Department The Detroit Police Department (DPD) is a municipal police force based in and responsible for the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan. Founded in 1865, it has nearly 2,500 officers, making it the largest law enforcement organization in Michigan. Histo ...

Detroit Fire Department The Detroit Fire Department (DFD) provides fire protection and emergency medical services to the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan. The DFD operates 47 fire companies out of 36 fire stations located throughout the city, with a total sworn perso ...

, Detroit Emergency Medical Service as well as a forensics laboratory for the

Michigan State Police The Michigan State Police (MSP) is the state police agency for the U.S. state of Michigan. The MSP is a full-service law enforcement agency, with its sworn members having full police powers statewide. The department was founded in 1917 as a wart ...

. After the City of Detroit acquired the building its physical address was re-designated from John C. Lodge Freeway to its present address on Third Street and Michigan Avenue to disassociate itself from the building's prior occupants, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service who were the original owners and the

MGM Grand Detroit Casino The MGM Grand Detroit is one of three casino resort hotels in Detroit, Michigan, and one of four in the Detroit–Windsor area. It is owned by Vici Properties and operated by MGM Resorts International. The casino opened in its temporary location ...

who purchased the building from the IRS.

History

The idea of consolidating Detroit's public safety was not a new idea, and in fact had been discussed extensively as far back as Mayor

Dennis Archer Dennis Wayne Archer (born January 1, 1942) is an American lawyer, jurist and former politician from Michigan. A Democrat, Archer served as Justice on the Michigan Supreme Court and as mayor of Detroit. He later served as president of the Amer ...

's administration but it wasn't until recent years that the city began to realize that 1300 Beaubien, where the Detroit Police had been headquartered since 1923, was beginning to show signs of aging and serious structural problems as well as an infestation of rodents and insects throughout the building. The City's Fire Department on West Larned was in better condition than the police headquarters, but was starting to lack sufficient space to house the department's offices and communications center. As a result, both the police and fire departments had to go outside of city owned buildings for office space which began to cause a serious financial strain on the city bank accounts. Beginning with Mayor

Kwame Kilpatrick Kwame Malik Kilpatrick (born June 8, 1970) is an American former politician who served as the 72nd mayor of Detroit from 2002 to 2008. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously represented the 9th district in the Michigan House of Repres ...

's administration the city began kicking around the idea of consolidating the city's police and fire departments into one complex, however plans were temporarily halted following the sudden but not unexpected resignation of Kilpatrick because of his arrest on charges of federal corruption. Following Kwame Kilpatrick's departure from the Mayor's office a special election was held in May 2009 and former

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division and play their home games at L ...

and Basketball Hall of Famer Dave Bing was elected the new Mayor of Detroit. One year later on June 11, 2010 it was announced that the city had agreed to purchase the 600,000 square foot former MGM Grand Detroit temporary casino at 1300 John C. Lodge Freeway for $6.32 million, and that it would undergo a $60 million renovation funded primarily through the Detroit Building Authority. The plans were temporarily halted again when the

Detroit City Council The Detroit City Council is the legislative body of Detroit, Michigan, United States. The full-time council is required to meet every business day for at least 10 months of the year, with at least eight of these meetings occurring at a location ...

rejected the Mayor's plan 6 to 3 to purchase the former casino After negotiations the City Council voted 5 to 4 for the purchase of the property. On June 28, 2013, exactly one year and seven days later, the Detroit Public Safety Headquarters opened with Mayor Bing, City Council members, the Wayne County Executive and other dignitaries attending a ribbon cutting ceremony official opening the complex.Ribbon Cutting Ceremony Scheduled At New Detroit Public Safety Headquarters
/ref> Police Chief James Craig and Fire Chief Craig Dougherty stated that both of their departments have already begun the move to the new DPHS. Mayor Bing added that when both the Police and Fire Departments complete their moves that 1300 Beaubien and 250 West Larned would be put up for sale by the city.

References

External links

Detroit Police DepartmentDetroit Fire Department
{{Coord, 42.3302, N, 83.0566, W, type:landmark_region:US-MI, display=title Buildings and structures in Detroit Government buildings in Michigan Public Safety Headquarters