Principles of police evidence violated in this film

Did I miss anything?

There's no way around it; the plot is pretty flawed and full of leaps in logic.

But it's still a damn well made, fantastically directed movie. To quote the film trailer: "Laura is superb entertainment!"

~ I'm a 21st century man and I don't wanna be here.

I couldn't help but remarking about this throughout the film. How is he getting away with all of this?? But you definitely let it slide because it's so damn entertaining.

...drinks on the job, gets personally involved, insults the suspects....

Still, the film is extremely entertaining, stylish, well acted...it's one of my faves!

~~~~~
Jim Hutton (1934-79) & Ellery Queen 🎇

Another oddity I noticed was that he doesn't carry a gun! When he removes his suit jacket in the apartment, no gun.At the end when Waldo fires at the officers he holds Laura but has no weapon. What sort of Detective goes about an investigation with no gun whatsoever?

I didn't read any of the responses your post received so this may be a repeat.

Police procedure, within the "scope" of time is only recently "standardized." There is a stand-up comedian named John Mulaney with two specials on Netflix. In the one titled, "The Comeback Kid" he makes a joke about bank robbers taking credit for their bank heists and as long as they weren't there when the police arrived, they basically got away.

Now, understand that I am a bit biased. Almost all the men in my family have served in some branch of the military and went on to become cops. I know these people on a personal level and, quite frankly, while I love them as family members...I'm not sure I would feel confident they would not "skirt the rules" to get their targets.

On a personal note...I've been mugged, had my identity stolen twice and a couple of crimes against property I owned and the police NEVER did anything to catch any of the perpetrators. The only ones ever questioned were ones that I tracked down and whose information I gave to the police for the follow-up. None of them were ever prosecuted so I'm not convinced that everyone paying taxes actually get "service and protection" from the police.

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"Can we all just parachute down from Cloud Coo-coo Land?" Jimmy-Better Call Saul

Yeah, but:

1. It's "movie logic," or perhaps "poetic license,"

2. It was a different day. I'm sure those bright lights... and rubber hoses, etc... were in common use back then.

3. As a successful detective, injured on the job (the silver shin - shades of "King of the Hill's" dad!), he probably got a lot of slack from prosecutors.

4. Cops... and politicians... get away with much more these days!

I thought it was odd that a police detective in a major city isn't issued a car, but has to take cabs everywhere.