Imagine Sonny Crockett, Kojak or Vic Mackey pulling you over for a traffic ticket and then popping over later to design your house.

That unlikely scenario happens to be Michael Verdugo's story -- and a joke he likes to tell anyone who asks how a cop winds up on HGTV's Design Star competing to win his own home design show.

''I'm a cop by day and a designer by night,'' he'll tease. After all, when he was a kid, growing up in '70s and '80s Hialeah, his dream jobs were ``architect or Erik Estrada from CHiPs.''

More or less, the Hialeah High School grad has managed to become a bit of both. For a decade he has held various positions within the Hollywood Police Department -- SWAT and undercover for a few years, beach patrol for another two. He currently works the afternoon shift four days a week on patrol. When he's not busting crooks and speeders or helping the public he runs his own home staging company. He also gutted and redesigned his Davie home single-handedly.

Tonight, that aspect of his work will show up nationwide. The 33-year-old landed one of nine coveted spots for the third season of HGTV's competition reality show Design Star. Over the next eight episodes, Verdugo and his cast mates were given assorted tasks to complete in Nashville. ''I was the only Latin one in Nashville,'' the bilingual Verdugo quips.

For the uninitiated, Design Star is a bit like American Idol for home designers. However, no music while working -- a point of contention for Verdugo, who sings and who does carpentry and design work to music.

THE CHALLENGES

In previous seasons the hopefuls were given 28 hours and a $15,000 budget to redesign their penthouse living area. Another challenge was to design a room on a budget of $399 -- using items purchased at a 99-cent store. Still another challenge required the remaining contestants to design a guest house for Las Vegas entertainer Wayne Newton. Each week, judges dismiss a contestant who fails to measure up.

Verdugo hopes to become the second designer from South Florida to win the title. (In 2006, David Bromstad of Miami won the first season and now hosts HGTV's Color Splash.)

Could Verdugo win? All the shows have been shot, but Verdugo is sworn to secrecy on how well he fared.

''He's extremely telegenic,'' allows James Bolosh, HGTV's head of programming. The boss offers a few more comments. ``It's one thing to be a pretty face, but it's another to be talented and he has them both. We looked at his audition tape, flew him in for casting weekend and after we saw him present his work in person he was guaranteed a spot. As a bonus, he's a police officer. How funny is that?''

Verdugo gets the humor. His colleagues on the police force have been ''so supportive,'' he says. ``They love it. We go to Starbucks and are drinking coffee and I'm reading designing magazines and they are reading Guns 'N Ammo.''

CREATIVE SIDE

Rick Garcia, 39, a detective in the crime suppression unit, thinks his colleague's facility in blending police work, which can be physical and stressful, and artistry, which calls on his creative side, ''is unusual for police officers.'' But, he adds, ``it's a definite, positive attribute. It helps in making you a more people person who can relate to [others] with an open mind. They see a more receptive person, which can help you get further in certain situations.''

The two officers initially bonded over music about seven years ago; Verdugo designed a home recording studio for Garcia. For his own house in Davie, he put in the surround-sound speakers, artfully concealed in the walls, and all of the wiring for the electronics.

When he bought the suburban home for $430,000 two years ago it was a rather ordinary, thisclose to drab '80s relic. But it was on a lake in a nice neighborhood. The potential was there -- especially since Verdugo, by doing nearly all the work himself except for marble installation in a bathroom, could shave off at least half the $50,000 to $100,000 he estimates it would cost to redo the house by hiring contractors.

The improvements are obvious to his neighbors, as well as to the 30 or so friends he entertains at barbecues about twice a month. His old front yard boasted a few palm trees and average shrubbery. Now, a wooden deck winds to the front door and carries visitors over a pond stocked with about 30 koi. ''My neighbors love me,'' he teases.

Two friendly Weimaraners wag their tails to greet guests. Of course, these 70-pound houseguests don't shed or tear up anything around the house, says Verdugo, a self-affirmed ''neat-freak'' as he pats Tech, the sleek silver-gray one in the blue collar. Or was that Theory, resplendent in his green collar?

The three -- man and neat beasts -- share this modern, 2,500-square-foot showplace. Verdugo's style: ''I call it New York loft, minimalist,'' he tells a visitor as he casts his gaze from his second-floor media room and office to the kitchen and living areas 16 feet below. The stairs are lined with textured subflooring, a product that usually goes under wood floors for soundproofing. ''But the look was so cool,'' Verdugo says, rubbing his hand across the raised gray, black and white bumps.

The money shot below -- a 142-inch screen that Verdugo made of white sheetrock -- hangs on the living room wall awaiting images from a high-def projector tucked into the ceiling. (Not surprisingly, its owner favors cop shows.)

Windows, rimmed by beige drapes hung on airline wire, pour light into the house. Mirrors give a sense of a larger space. ''If I could, I would live in a glass house,'' he says. ``Gives that open feeling, modern, industrial. . . . I don't like clutter but I want it to look lived in.''

His favorite room is an upstairs bathroom with a glass walk-in shower and the piece de resistance, a skylight. The tranquility ''puts me right out,'' he says.

Mikey V., as his friends call him, says he can afford his lifestyle on a cop's salary because he capitalized on the real estate boom before it went bust by flipping homes that he renovated and redesigned on his off hours. He says this house, which sits on a cul-de-sac astride a lake, ``is my baby. I fell in love with it.''

The abstract paintings in grays, blacks and whites are from Verdugo's own hand, too. A Jacuzzi beckons out back.

''It's not a museum, use the stuff!'' he tells a visitor who seems skittish about whether to plop into a simple cloth chair on the first floor or just stand to chat.

Verdugo started his design work in his teens by installing kitchens with his stepfather. But he revealed his talents even earlier, his mother, Evelyn Rodriguez, said in an e-mail from her Sunrise home.

''Ever since he was young -- 10, 12 -- he would always be building clubhouses in the backyard and making speaker boxes for his friends. When I would come home from work he would always have his bedroom furniture rearranged or the walls painted different,'' Rodriguez says. ``I raised my two sons as a single parent, and always had high hopes for both, but Michael was a go-getter from a young age. He started his first job at Burger King when he was 14 and never stopped. He enjoys the challenge and believes in setting goals for himself. He has done everything on his own and once he sets his mind to it, there is no stopping him.''

A CRITIQUE

If the Design Star judges don't do that, some TV critics might try, however. Entertainment Weekly's Ken Tucker sniffs in a review of tonight's opening show that ``most of the third season's finalists specialize in drippy, treacly, and sentimental living environments. By far the most talented . . . is Matt Locke, who manages to design crisp but not sterile rooms that you'd want to live in.''

Verdugo, who was a fan of the two previous seasons, is undaunted. He navigated the unfamiliar Nashville landscape away from home and family. Made do without his beloved music. Bonded with a couple new friends among the cast, he says.

''I was always a people person,'' he says. ``From the time I was a personal trainer to being a cop [this designing] is just a different aspect of helping people.''

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