Police Chief Private Office Layout and Precinct Expansion Guide

To access precinct management features and fix officer pathfinding bugs in Police Chief, construct a dedicated private office, space furniture away from walls, and maintain open walking corridors between key station zones.

---

Constructing the Private Office

The private office serves as your administrative command center, isolating roster management and precinct statistics from the main floor. Moving administrative work into a dedicated room prevents officers from colliding with your character during shift changes.

To build and equip the office:

Clear the Space: Remove all trash and debris from the designated office footprint. Uncleared items block build nodes.
Place Core Furniture: Install a primary desk, chair, and storage units.
Leave Interaction Clearance: Keep open space on all sides of the desk so you can trigger prompts from multiple angles. Placing desks flush against tight corners can cause your character to get stuck or disable interaction menus.

---

Strategic Furniture Layout and Placement Rules

How you arrange administrative equipment dictates both workflow speed and interaction stability.

Position in an "L" or "U" Shape: Group your desk terminal, filing cabinets, and side modules in an "L" or "U" configuration. This reduces the distance your character must walk between management tools.
Maintain Wall Spacing: Keep desks and key workstations at least one floor tile away from walls. If a workstation is too close to a wall or adjacent item, the radial interaction menu may fail to appear.
Use Snap-to-Grid: Align all items using grid snapping where available. Misaligned or rotated items create unexpected collision boxes that disrupt pathing.

Furniture Placement	Recommended Clearance	Result
Command Desk	1 tile from walls, open on 3 sides	Prevents missing radial menus and stuck prompts
Filing Cabinets	Adjacent to desk in "L" bend	Fast access without long walking animations
Officer Workstations	Distributed evenly across the floor	Prevents cluster bottlenecks at shift change

---

Managing Precinct Traffic and Floor Layout

Station clutter and poor layout choices create navigation "dead zones" where officers become trapped or stand idle instead of reporting for duty.

Clear High-Traffic Corridors: Keep a straight, unobstructed path between the main entrance, the booking area, and the garage entrance.
Clean Up Post-Renovation: Remove all leftover debris and unused items immediately after completing a room expansion.
Separate Functional Zones: Establish distinct, dedicated areas for booking, administrative processing, and staff break rooms. Spreading out workstations keeps officers from competing for the same interaction nodes simultaneously.

---

Troubleshooting Officer Pathing and Idle Errors

If officers stand idle or fail to start patrol shifts, an obstructed workstation or pathing bottleneck is usually the cause.

Observe Shift Changes: Watch staff movement during morning shift transitions to identify where officers congregate or freeze.
Check Workstation Access: Inspect the idle officer's assigned desk. If a chair, cabinet, or decorative object sits too close to the seat prompt, delete and relocate the blocking item.
Relocate Problem Furniture: If an interaction prompt fails to appear or an officer pathing loop persists, remove the furniture item completely and re-place it at least one tile away from surrounding objects.