> Police never lose pay for misjudging anyone.

This is an important point.

Police are a bureaucracy with all the same incentives and problems inherent to that structure.

They are seldom penalized for being wrong (even if someone gets shot/killed as a result) but they do miss out on promotions for not closing enough cases (or writing enough citations).

Detectives under pressure will absolutely name weak suspects to achieve these ends and let the courts sort it out.