It's possible to not have enough information to narrow down a suspect and issue a warrant at the time of the arrest even if you interviewed everyone during a case.
Luck-Based Mission: In the pre-1996 versions, not every witness interviewed will yield characteristic traits of the suspect (hair color, vehicle, favorite food, etc.). The tone of the PBS game show was probably an influence in that process. Lighter and Softer: The 19 versions are more light-hearted and humorous than the original 1985 game, which is no surprise considering that's the direction that the franchise as a whole went in between the mid-80s and mid-90s. The Chief mentions that it 'appeared seconds after the theft' in San Francisco. Hand Waved at one point in the 1996 version where you have to find the torch from the Statue of Liberty, even though you investigate San Francisco. at the time, but which are now independent of Russia. In the older games, clues intended to direct you to Moscow will sometimes mention places that were part of the U.S.S.R. Fortunately, knowing just the country is always enough to get you to another destination with more clues. It's a Small World, After All: The clues you are given are about the entire country the crook went to rather than any specific place. 
Interpol Special Agent: You are an Interpol agent in the original 1985 version. A new Afghan flag was adopted following the defeat of the Taliban in 2002, so the flag does date the game to before that. However, the Northern Alliance continued to be internationally recognized as Afghanistan's de jure government, so it is technically correct that the Northern Alliance flag was the official flag of Afghanistan in the late '90s. Around the time of the game's release in 1996, the Taliban took over, and the previous regime became the Northern Alliance resistance. note Incidentally, Afghanistan's flag in the in-game database is that of the pre-Taliban government, which was undoubtedly still in power when the game was in development. In the 1996 version, your location for Afghanistan is one of the Bamiyan Buddha statues, both of which were dynamited by the Taliban in 2001. All three versions predate the introduction of the euro, so they're all dated when they give as a clue the name of a European currency that has since been replaced by the euro. All three versions give population statistics that are, of course, outdated now. 
In the 1998 revamped version of that game, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is still called "Zaire" for the most part, but its entry in the in-game database has been rewritten so that it awkwardly explains that "Zaire" is now technically the country's former name.
While the 1996 version came out late enough to have cleared the end of the Cold War, it was nonetheless caught off guard by the fall of Zaire. 
The 1994 revamped version of the '92 game was the first to feature Russia instead of the Soviet Union. The 1992 deluxe edition has a reunited Germany alongside an existent Soviet Union, the game having fallen victim to the same period of short map shelf life as the game show's first season.
Of course, the 1985 version was made before the Hole in Flag revolutions, so it features the Soviet Union still being a country, etc. In general, the 1985 game plays its Police Procedural premise somewhat straight, whereas its successors treat it in a more wacky and comical fashion. You work for Interpol instead of the fictional ACME Detective Agency, the crooks don't have Punny Names, the thefts aren't humorously impossible, and there are more violent animations. Early Installment Weirdness: Being the first game in the Carmen franchise, the 1985 version has a lot of this. In the original 1985 version, you simply receive anonymous texts from Interpol, and there is no mention of any "chief" character. In the 1992 version, the Chief is a white-haired man with a British accent, and in the 1996 version, the Chief is. Da Chief: Your boss in the 19 versions. This is, of course, averted in the 1996 version, since it's a product of the CD-ROM era. And even the teachers couldn't exactly summon new copies of a travel guide (now often several years, if not a decade out of date) at will. Sound easy enough? Then remember that these games were incredibly common in schools. You can play all you want, but to get promoted and even have a chance to capture Carmen, you have to enter certain words from certain pages of the included travel guides every few cases. Arguably some of the most frustrating of all time. Copy Protection: Horrible, horrible copy protection. Acme Products: You are a sleuth at the ACME Detective Agency in the 19 versions.
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