If there’s one thing that defines the Lego City range, it’s the police and fire station sets. They’ve been doing them forever, even way back in 1972, before the advent of minifigures, they were doing police themed sets. It’s now 44 years later and we have this, set 60047 Lego City Police Station. The retail price is £79.99 (but you’ll get it 25-30% cheaper through Amazon), it has 854 pieces, and therefore comes in at about 9.4p per piece.
Watch our video review to see the build and hear some of our thoughts then read on…
The set consists of a large police station, which is made up of three discrete sections – a control tower with vehicle bay, a two level prison cell block with parking area underneath, and a two level office block. You also get a police car and police motorbike, a red tow truck that’s being used for a prison breakout, a helicopter, six minifigures, and a police dog.
The build is split up into 10 numbered bags, an 11th bag containing some longer pieces which are used at various points in the build, and three small dark grey base plates. The build itself was very enjoyable, with each set of bags producing a different part of the model, firstly the vehicles and then each of the three sections of the station itself. These are connected together by Technic pins, so you can easily disconnect them for storage or transportation.
The box says this is for ages 6-12, and that would be a good age for putting this together. Nothing is too complicated, but there is quite a bit of repetition on some of the sections, especially in the two floor prison where both floors are essentially identical, and on the office block as well which is much the same. There’s also a lot of stickers, most of which are just the word POLICE over and over again. For those that may break apart the set later and build something of their own, there’s lots of very useful wall pieces, windows and plates that should be very usable in the future.
The minifigures are all very detailed and filled with character. There’s a police man and police woman, a helicopter pilot, motorbike rider, two criminals in jail with ball and chains and finally the driver of the tow truck trying to break them out of jail. The facial expressions on the criminals are especially good.
“Squirrel!”
There’s so many things going on in this set, it’s going to be a massive hit with any kid who enjoys Lego. From the trap door toilets in the prison cells, the escape route in the ceiling, the multiple places for minifigs to sit across the offices and control towers, the helicopter landing pad, entry barrier, the shutter door for the car garage, satellite dish, lamp posts… there’s more opportunities for play in this than I think I’ve ever seen in a Lego set. An imaginative kid is going to love creating their own prison break outs, emergency situations and car chases. And since it’s police, it easily lends itself to any other sets you might have, whether that’s fire, superhero, Star Wars or Ninjago – Lego Police can arrest them all.
Noah has been desperate for me to finish this review so he could get his hands on the set to go play with it, and as soon as we finished the video he was away doing just that. Criminals were captured, Iron Man was in the prison, fire engines crashed outside. You may think Lego is all about brands, but it doesn’t need to be. Highly recommended.