This is a LEGO® modular collection Police Station (10278) review. I purchased this set myself, and this review is not sponsored in any way. I strive to always provide my honest opinion on LEGO® products. If you are curious about how I generate scores in this review, I invite you to read about the True North Bricks rating system.

INTRODUCTION

The Police Station (10278) was the 2021 entry in the LEGO® Modular Collection. I bought it when it came out, and I intended to build the set sooner. But I was still a LEGO® community ambassador. Since the LEGO® Group was sending me sets to review, I prioritized those over my own purchases. Consequently the Police Station entered my inventory of unbuilt LEGO® sets waiting for a rainy day. That day finally arrived in 2024… though it was snow, not rain. A spring snowstorm hit, and I decided to build the set. The Police Station retired recently, so you can no longer buy it in stores. I thought I would offer up my review anyway.

SET SPECIFICS

QUICK REVIEW

POLICE STATION (10278) REVIEW

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Value Score Breakdown:

Before it retired, the Police Station sold for $269.99 in Canada. With 2923 bricks, the resulting cost/brick was $0.092. That is an excellent price per piece. Anytime you get something under $0.10 a brick, it is a pretty good value in my books. With that said, sets in the Modular Collection always represent a great cost/brick. After all, larger sets are like buying LEGO® bricks in bulk. Compared to other modulars, the Police Station is pretty average. However, since it is still miles above the average LEGO® set, I rate the cost/brick at 96%.

When it comes to build time, I assembled the Police Station in six hours and 13 minutes. Therefore at full price, the set cost me $0.724/min. Again, for a modular that is pretty average in my experience. Even compared to LEGO® sets in general, I wouldn’t say it is an excellent amount of build time for $270. It is good, but not great. We’ll chat about the build more later in the review, but it does not include any particularly complicated techniques. Straightforward builds do not tend to be long experiences. To be clear, I’m not saying the build is boring. But again, we’ll chat more about that in the next section. I rate the build time at 84%. Averaging this with the cost/brick score gives an overall value grade of 90%.

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Build Score Breakdown:

The Police Station includes a lot of useful parts. There are not many rare elements, but what you get is handy for MOCs. The rarer stuff comes in the form of printed tiles and Minifigure elements. A couple of the lavender bricks are also harder to find. The set does include an exclusive grey brick though. As soon as I saw it, I knew it was not already in my collection. I am hard pressed to figure out why the LEGO® Group produced it. It is not particularly useful in my mind… it forms part of the decor along the roof edge. When I looked it up on Bricklink, it is listed as “creature head pixelated with snout”. That leads me to believe it was developed for Minecraft and never used. According to Bricklink and Brickset, the piece only appears in this set at publication.

The build process is pretty straightforward. I did not marvel at too many build techniques while assembling the Police Station. With that said, I did appreciate a couple of aspects. Firstly, I like how the staircase comes together. It uses a SNOT (studs not on top) technique employing modified facet bricks installed sideways. Secondly, the little tunnel being dug with a spoon under the jail cell is priceless. It is a wonderful storytelling feature, and the fact that the jail floor is removable for access to the sub-terrain space is amazing. When I built the modular Natural History Museum, I lamented that the story elements below the floor were not accessible. It really goes to show what a step backwards the Natural History Museum was. The police station is older, and the story it contains is much better and playable.

It’s been a busy night for who ever was locked in that cell…

The Police Station also features a number of fun little details. The water cooler is one of my favourites. Additionally, the second floor has an evidence board. Up on the top level, you get a bathroom and an interrogation room. Interestingly, this is one of the few LEGO® sets I know of that actually has two bathrooms. There is another toilet in the jail cell. The donut shop is another highlight that supplements the Police Station story well, as does the news stand. Building an older modular after the Natural History Museum was like a breath of fresh air. The Police Station has a mostly coherent and well thought out build. It’s fun to watch it all come together.

You might have noted that I said “mostly coherent”. There are a couple of aspects of the Police Station that I didn’t love. The apartment on top of the Donut Shop was one of them. The LEGO® Group often falls into the trap of trying to include too many different concepts in one build. The apartment fits that bill. It doesn’t make sense. The only entry into the room is through a fire escape ladder out back. How does one get any furniture in via ladder? It is not realistic. The apartment also has no bathroom. I get the set designers were trying to create a fun story here. The play feature in the apartment is a hole under the bed which allows the apartment occupant to steal donuts from the Donut Shop. But, I think there’s a better way to incorporate the theft storyline.

This apartment is a blight on an otherwise wonderful set.

In my opinion, the LEGO® Group should have committed whole heartedly to the Police Station concept. Instead of an apartment, this space should have been another office in the station. It would have been hilarious to have some corrupt cops stealing donuts from a hole underneath the desk rather than including a half-hearted attempt at an apartment. This set has enough going on with the station, donut shop, and news stand. Incomplete execution of ideas really irks me.

The second issue I have with the Police Station set involves the interior walls. They all stop two layers short of the exterior walls. As such, both the Donut Shop and the apartment open into the Police Station… It just seems like an odd way to cut back on bricks in my opinion. Again, if the apartment has been another office, you would not have needed a full wall on the second floor. Therefore cutting back on bricks like this would not have been necessary on other floors. This is less of an issue for me than the apartment though.

I would love to live in an apartment that opens into a Police Station… especially if I was a thief.

With all that said, I still want to end the build section on a high note. While I did not like the apartment or the shorter walls, I still very much like the set design overall. The exterior of the building looks amazing, and the interior of the actual Police Station is really nice too. Additionally, I really love the clever use of green gears to make shrubs in front of the station’s front entrance. Ultimately, I’m taking a full point off for the useless apartment, and half a point for the shortened walls. I rate this build at 8.5/10.

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Minifigure Score Breakdown:

What would the LEGO® Police Station (10278) review be without a chat about Minifigures? The set includes five. Let’s just get this out of the way quickly: that is no where near enough. In a 2923 piece kit, that means you get 585 bricks/Minifigure. Comparatively, the average LEGO® set usually delivers about 200 bricks/minifig in my experience. This is a police station and could easily include more police. You could include a burglar in the jail cell. You could even include random citizens visiting the Donut Shop. In order to get a passing score in my book, this set needs 4-5 more characters.

With that said, the modular collection is notorious for low Minifigure counts. On average, all the modulars I own have a mean bricks/fig of 453. By that comparison, you still don’t get a great number of minifigs for a set this size, but it is a satisfactory offering. The Minifigures you get are also set appropriate, and there’s a new torso design. While many online sources indicate these characters are only available in this set, the truth is that these specific combinations of Minifigure parts are only available in this set. Only the torso element seen on the two male police officers is actually a unique part. If I compare this to only other modulars, the Minifigure count earns a score of 74%. Compared to LEGO® in general on top of that, the grade drops to 38%…

These minifigs feel like a bit of a missed opportunity in more ways than one…

As far as characters go, there are okay. Luckily, the kit does not contain any stumpy, unmoving legs. Three are police officers, one runs the donut shop, and the final character is from the news stand (but also doubles as the donut thief). They all come with the standard adult minifig parts. Each also has both front and back torso printing, although barely. None have leg printing, and only the ladies have double-sided face print. Like the Minifigure count, the accessories list is markedly short for a set this size. There are 18 different accessories, with a total of 40 elements. Here’s what you get:

At least there’s a unique torso print.

You get a new police torso with this set. Otherwise, the there are too few Minifigures, too few accessories, and the characters are not terribly exciting. Unique prints for a shady, donut stealing detective and a dirt covered prisoner tunnelling through the jail floor would have made the selection more interesting. Maybe a cake with a spoon hidden in it as an accessory? I don’t dislike this minifig assortment at all. But I don’t love it either. I rate the Minifigure designs and accessories at 78%. Averaging this with the minifig count score gives an overall Minifigure grade of 76%. Note that I am grading this compared to other modulars, and not comparing to LEGO® sets in general.

My suggestions for additional Police Station (10278) Minifigures:

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Entertainment Score Breakdown:

I consider myself a bit of a modular collection aficionado. With the exception of the Town Hall, I have every modular building since 2010. These are the sets that pulled me back from my dark age. While I have never sat down to actually rank the sets, after writing this Police Station (10278) review, I feel like the set falls in my top 5. It does not top the list though. Those honours remain with the Brick Bank. The bank did not try to be too many things. It stuck to its namesake. The only addition was a laundromat which created a chuckle and added to the set’s story. With a beautiful build, it really was the perfect modular in my mind. Oddly enough, I’ve never reviewed it… I acquired it before True North Bricks was even a thing.

Enter the Police Station five years later. This set checks off many of the same boxes that made the Brick Bank a resounding success in my mind. The Police Station looks wonderful from the outside. The interior of the police station also has enough going on to keep it interesting. I love that most of the building is dedicated to the station and the set does not stray on too many tangents. With the exception of the apartment, this is a wonderful set.

It is refreshing that the Police Station does not stray on too many tangents.

The story is another win. The Brick Bank featured a coherent tale about robbery and money laundering with several play features to go along with it. The same is true for the Police Station. Here, we see a news stand employee hitting rough times. He resorts to a life of crime by stealing donuts through a hole under his bed in the apartment. While I wish the apartment bit was different, I like the overall concept here. It plays well into the cookie smuggling operation we saw with the Detective’s Office. The Police Station also pays homage to the Brick Bank through the wonderful billboard on the side.

While meant for the 18+ crowd, the Police Station is sure to please younger builders as well. The play features that complement the story are wonderful. I am thrilled with the accessible tunnel under the jail floor. I also greatly enjoy the opening under the bed into the donut shop… even if I wish it was an opening under a corrupt detective’s desk. Overall, the Police Station is a great set and it falls among my favourite modulars.

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Going back to the story, it is wonderful how the set ties into past sets from the collection. The cookie smuggling operation from the Detective’s Office delighted me back in the day. We see the tale continue here with the Police Station. The billboard tying the set to my favourite modular, the Brick Bank, is also priceless. I’m a big fan of this set. That concludes my Police Station (10278) review. What do you think of the set? Let me know in the comments or reach out on social media.

Until next time,

-Tom

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