Detroit’s $18.5 Million Solitaire Game

Detroit has long held the reputation as one of the worst run cities in the nation, particularly with its top politicians continually the subject of corruption scandals and criminal indictments, here. Now, an internal report has revealed that the city spent more than $18.5 million on an in-car computer system that is so poorly designed and used that investigators found that “its most common use today is a platform to play solitaire.”

The recommendation is now to tear out the entire system and start over but there is no apparent recommendation that anyone be fired for selecting or maintaining this system.

The actual cost is expected to be higher because the department failed to save receipts and records on many costs associated with the system, which works less than 17 percent of the time.

This system was an important component in reforms addressing cases of police abuse. The department, however, proceeded to pick a substandard system and then use it primarily as a table for card games.

In the meantime, the city has lost $116 million in settlements and court judgments for abuses in the last few years.

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