“The Streamlight UltraStinger flashlight is five times brighter than the SuperStinger flashlight
and emits up to 75,000 candlepower for one full hour.  This makes it the brightest Streamlight rechargeable flashlight available.   It weighs just over a pound with a machined aluminum case,
unbreakable polycarbonate lens and features a spot-to-flood beam.”
(Law Enforcement Directory)

The Streamlight Ultrastinger Flashlight is a tool which is advertised by many police equipment suppliers.  Small and lightweight, it is referred to as a “tactical flashlight” and can be used in everything from investigative to defensive measures. (Law Enforcement Directory)  Such a bright flashlight could conceivably be used to illuminate a crime scene, check the backseat of a car, or even temporarily blind a resisting perpetrator. 

But all these uses still don’t make the current Streamlight Ultrastinger identical to the flashlight-lasers of Ringworld.  The main difference between a flashlight and a laser is that the photons (the energy that light releases) of a flashlight spread out considerably more after leaving their origin than a laser. (Weschler) The photons coming from a laser are just far more excited, which means that they are more powerful and more focused. 

In fact, the word laser is an acronym meaning “light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation”.  This acronym describes exactly how a laser works. (Weschler)

So why can’t one just increase the power of the Streamlight Ultrastinger until it becomes a flashlight-laser?  Because the light of a flashlight isn’t organized enough.  When a laser works, it does something called “stimulated emission” which means that its light is monochromatic (one colour), coherent (organized), and directional (strong and concentrated). (Weschler)

In Ringworld, the concentrated beam of the flashlight-laser is described as green and narrow, even when it lands on a distant object.  This means that Larry Niven is indeed describing a machine that is both flashlight and laser.  Although we currently have both of these technologies available to us, we have yet to reconcile the two into one useful object.