Detroit's own crime-fighter RoboCop finally stands guard in Motor City
[December 05, 2025]
By COREY WILLIAMS and MIKE HOUSEHOLDER
DETROIT (AP) — RoboCop has finally found a permanent home in Detroit.
A statue looming 11 feet tall (3.3 meters) and weighing 3,500 pounds
(1,587 kilograms) has been drawing fans since it began standing guard
over the Motor City on Wednesday afternoon, after about 15 years in the
making. Even in a snowstorm in the dark, people were driving by to see
it, said Jim Toscano, co-owner of the FREE AGE film production company
where the bronze-cast statue now stands bolted near the sidewalk.
“RoboCop” hit theaters in 1987, portraying a near-future Detroit as
crime-ridden and poorly protected by a beleaguered and outgunned police
force, until actor Peter Weller appeared as a nearly invincible cyborg,
created by a nefarious corporation bent on privatizing policing.
There was a time when Detroit pushed back on anything pointing to its
past reputation as an unsafe city, and the movie, which developed a cult
following, spawning two sequels and a reboot, didn't help its image.
But things have changed. Violent crime has been trending down for years.
Homicide numbers have dropped below mid-1960s levels. And city officials
offered no objections to the statue's installation, Toscano said.
“I think there will be a lot more acceptance,” Toscano said. “Detroit
has come a long way. You put in a little nostalgia and that helps.”
The statue campaign appears to have started around 2010 when Detroit
Mayor Dave Bing was tagged in a tweet that noted Philadelphia's statue
of boxer Rocky Balboa and said RoboCop would be a “GREAT ambassador for
Detroit.”
Bing tweeted back, saying there were no such plans. But some Detroiters
ran with the idea, crowdfunding it through a 2012 Kickstarter campaign
that raised more than $67,000 from more than 2,700 backers worldwide,
and Detroit sculptor Giorgio Gikas finished the statue in 2017.
Then, it got stuck, stored away from public view.
The Michigan Science Center in Detroit ultimately nixed plans to host
the sculpture in 2021, citing pressures from the coronavirus pandemic
and the need to focus museum resources. Officials in Stevens Point,
Wisconsin raised their hands, hoping to honor Weller, a native son of
that city, by erecting it outside the police station or in a park.
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People pose for photos with a RoboCop statue that stands outside a
business in Detroit's Eastern Market area, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025.
(AP Photo/Mike Householder)
 The search for a suitable home for
RoboCop remained in limbo until about three years ago when Toscano's
company bought a building in Eastern Market, an open-air produce
market, shopping and entertainment district just northeast of
downtown. Toscano says he thought they were “kidding” when he was
contacted by the creator of the statue idea and Eastern Market
officials. But he and his business partner gladly came on board:
“It's too unusual, too unique, too cool not to do,” Toscano said.
Toscano, 48, says he's only viewed the first “RoboCop” movie.
“It wasn't a big film in our house,” he admitted. But if there is
one iconic line uttered by RoboCop that fits this moment, Toscano
said it would be “Thank you for your cooperation.”
On Thursday, James Campbell approached the statue and told three
picture-takers: “I own this. Do you guys know that?”
Campbell said he donated $100 to the original Kickstarter campaign
over a decade ago, which makes him a “.038% owner of this statue.”
“I’m here to see this big, beautiful, bronze piece of art,” he said.
“What a piece of cinematic history to represent the city of
Detroit.”
Asked why RoboCop is an appropriate symbol for the city, Campbell
said: “He’s a cyborg crime fighter! In the movie, in the futuristic
Detroit, he’s there to save the city. He’s a symbol of hope.”
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