Put the wrong end of foot into broken gumshoe (9)
I believe the answer is:
detective
'gumshoe' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
I can't explain the remainder of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for detective that I've seen before include "Criminal investigator" , "police officer" , "Sleuth" , "Policeman, say" , "such as Chesterton's father" .)