Great Job, Internet!: Detroit honors slain officer with long-awaited, 11-foot RoboCop statue 

Commemorating the time RoboCop shot that guy in the dick, Detroit has unveiled its long-awaited statue to fallen police officer Alex Murphy. The Detroit Metro Times reports that after 15 years of Detroit demand, the bronze tribute to Paul Verhoeven’s 1987 masterpiece resides in Eastern Market, as of yesterday. The statue’s long journey to the Motor City began in 2011, when a now-defunct Twitter account tweeted at then-Mayor Dave Bing, “Philadelphia has a statue of Rocky & RoboCop would kick Rocky’s butt. He’s a GREAT ambassador for Detroit.” The post elicited a response from Mayor Bing, informing the poster that there were no plans to honor Murphy, who was gunned down by the notorious gang leader Clarence Boddicker in 1987. However, Detroiters banded together, and local filmmaker Brandon Walley and Loveland Technologies co-founder Jerry Paffendorf launched a Kickstarter to fund a richly detailed likeness of OCP’s most successful crime-fighting product, raising more than $67,000. More than a decade of red tape and setbacks later, the 11-foot-tall, 3,500-pound statue, commissioned and constructed by George Gikas of Venus Bronze Works, now presides over 3434 Russell St. in Detroit, serving as a message to all the kids watching at home: “Stay out of trouble.”