Homicide Desk Charging and Internal Affairs

The Arrest Warrant app is the last honest screen on the Homicide Desk. Everything before it can be messy: nested folders, a chromatograph you calibrated twice, a suspect who talked in circles. The warrant is a name, an act, and a paragraph you have to stand on. Get the charge right and the file closes. Get it wrong and Internal Affairs opens a file on you. This page is about that decision. It will not tell you who to name on Case #001, The Overtime.

Written deductions are the gate

You cannot bluff the warrant with a hunch and a crowded board. The game requires a written deduction before charging. Treat that text as an exhibit list in prose. Name the person, name the offense, and point at documents you actually have: a timestamp, a UV mark, a phone record, a statement that cracked when you presented a page. If a sentence only works because the board looks dense, delete it.

Do the paperwork in order. Personnel File for the person you intend to name. Case Files one more pass for a sealed folder you forgot. Email for a mid-case twist. Notebook for quotes you will cite. Then write. Then ask whether a defense attorney could shred the paragraph in two questions. If yes, you are not filing today.

Training does not calibrate this fear. Case #000, The Pawnshop Key, is a robbery close: Tommy Vale arrested, Longines returned to Edwin Hollis, Certification set to field-certified. Homicides 001 through 003 — and future files Shu’la Lab has promised — are the ones that send Internal Affairs. Do not import the pawnshop’s confidence into Server Room B.

Case #001 setup you may use as a checklist, not a charge sheet: Vanta Systems HQ, Eastdock, 17 March 2024 at 21:47, Marcus Reeves, 41, principal engineer, no forced entry, sister Dana Reeves, sealed strongbox, voicemail about invoices and proof in his box. Multiple guilty-party variants exist. Reopen the case and the correct warrant can change. A named “killer” on the internet is one run.

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Wrong arrest, sealed files, and when not to charge

A wrong charge is not a reload joke. Internal Affairs writes you up. That record sits on the same desktop as your salary, dispatch, and next assignment. You still have a precinct to keep alive — Store, Game Room, Gazette — but the IA file is what this page is here to prevent. There is no second player to split the blame. The warrant is yours.

Sealed documents are a reason to wait. Some folders will not open until interrogation earns the code. If your deduction needs a page you cannot read yet, do not guess. Go back to the table. Present the exhibit you have. If the suspect is about to lawyer up, Offer a Break instead of pushing on nothing. Request Dossier if Personnel File is still a stub and you can afford it. Paid actions: Interrogation Planner. Technique: interrogation guide.

When not to charge, in plain language:

• You have not finished the Forensics Lab work the file handed you.
• A CCTV timestamp or phone record still contradicts the paragraph you want to file.
• A sealed strongbox, inbox, or folder is sitting in Case Files unread.
• The suspect lawyered up before you presented the document that actually matters.
• Your board has strings that you cannot cite as exhibits.
• You are charging because the Gazette wants a name today.

If any line on that list is true, return to How to Solve a Homicide Desk Case and to the evidence board. The Walkthrough Hub exists so you can reread the spoiler policy before a comment section talks you into a name.

After you file

A correct warrant closes the homicide and pays the desk. Certification, salary, and the next email are the reward. A mid-case twist can still be part of a correct close; it is not a reason to hesitate forever. The test is the deduction, not your anxiety. If IA opens, treat the write-up as data. Rebuild the board. Replay if a variant is available. Do not double down on the same paragraph.

City Atlas still has Northloop through Dockside after a close. Dispatch still wants patrols. The precinct guide is the living-building half of the job. If the desktop failed you — black screen on launch, ollama.exe still running after quit — that is a patch problem, not IA. Use system requirements and patch notes. Buyer context sits on the review page. None of those pages will name a killer either.