“..it takes weeks to put a case together enough for a warrant....”
I did not know that!
Maybe there’s a certain procedure that requires approval at various points, and if response is delayed or incorrectly provided, just that level of bureaucracy can gum up the works.
There’s tons of procedure and approval. You need a good evidence chain, which means valid warrants approved by judges. If you find the murder weapon without the proper chain it’s inadmissible. Heck even a straight up confession without the right steps can’t go to court. It’s great to know for certain who the killer is, but you’ve got to prove it, and you’ve got to prove it following laws and procedures that support an innocent until proven guilty system deliberately built to NOT send people to jail unless every i and t are dotted and crossed exactly right.