Originally Posted by
IrishSpartan
It depends on what era you are referring to whether the residency requirement worked. Before the riots, the compliance was pretty high among city employees. Also, before the riots in the case of the east side police and fire, personel more were scattered throughout different neighborhoods. The neighborhoods that became known as "Copper Canyon" near St. John always had a higher percentage of city employees, but that grew significantly after the riots. I knew of a half dozen police and firemen alone of the World War II generation that lived just east of City Airport. They of course retired in the 1970's, which is also when the neighborhood was beginning to change. Other popular areas for police and fire were the neighhoods between Schoenherr-Hoover & 7 and 8 Mile. Also, the area between Denby and I-94 was popular.
Throughout the 1970's the game of having an address but not living in city became more prevalent especially among the
non-Catholic employees who refused to send their kids to DPS. By the 1980's it was a joke in many cases. Although I did know a Detroit cop still living on Greiner just west of Schoenherr as late as 1986. Otherwise, everyone else I knew lived near St. John Hospital or 7 Mile & Kelly.