Police Chief: How to Fix Stuck Officers and Workstation Bottlenecks

To restore stalled operations in Police Chief when officers freeze or terminal queues stop processing, interact directly with the idle officer or enter build mode to clear floor clutter and reposition affected workstations. If an officer remains permanently glitched after manual resets, re-assigning their task or terminating their contract and re-hiring them forces a complete AI refresh.

Resetting Stuck Officer AI and Pathfinding

Officer AI frequently stalls when navigation paths intersect with environmental clutter, trash, or other NPCs in tight hallways. When an officer stands idle near a desk or remains unresponsive while handling paperwork or evidence, perform the following troubleshooting steps:

1. Interact Directly with the Officer: Physically interacting with an idle NPC breaks their frozen state and triggers a pathing recalculation.
2. Clear the Surrounding Floor: Remove evidence bags, temporary trash, or loose items near the officer to unblock their immediate movement grid.
3. Re-assign Task or Station: Re-assign the officer to a different station or duty to force their AI to calculate a fresh route.

Fixing Workstation and Supply Access Bottlenecks

Workstations and supply points become inactive when multiple officers attempt to access them simultaneously or when physical objects clip into interaction zones.

Workstation Placement and Interaction Conflicts

• Space Out Terminals: Avoid grouping computer terminals or desks in tight clusters. Spacing them apart prevents overlapping animation triggers and keeps interaction nodes from registering as perpetually occupied.
• Keep High-Traffic Areas Clear: Position workstations away from main doorways to stop hallway traffic from interrupting terminal animation cycles.
• Clear Terminal Hit-Boxes: If a computer or desk becomes unusable, open build mode and move the terminal unit slightly to resolve clipping conflicts with nearby equipment.

Supply and Storage Accessibility

• Provide Multi-Side Access: Place supply crates and filing cabinets so officers can reach them from at least two sides.
• Resolve Searching Loops: If an officer gets stuck in a searching animation state while retrieving forensic supplies or paperwork, clear the pathway to the cabinet or manually clear the item from their hands.

Daily Monitoring and Resolving Persistent Glitches

To maintain daily precinct processing capacity, establish a daily monitoring route between the main office, booking room, and storage areas to catch stalled officers before evidence backlog accumulates.

When manual interaction and build-mode repositioning fail to fix a permanently glitched officer, open their management file and terminate their contract. Re-hiring them incurs a minor administrative fee, but it immediately clears the broken state and keeps overall precinct operations running efficiently.