100% correct that it is required by Federal law that all missing persons are required to be entered into NCIC as a File 6 (Missing Person). And there is a time limit to do so.
With a department as small as FPD, it's entirely possible that they were overwhelmed and it was simply and oversight. And imo, I doubt functionally it makes a difference. For a stolen car, for example, if you don't enter it and another department stops the vehicle, they won't know it's stolen. That's common, and would be a huge issue for the department. But if a child were located, they're not going to just send him back out the front door if his name doesn't come up as a File 6. If they've had contact, there's a reason, obviously. So the receiving department would investigate, I'm sure. And unless they're hundreds of miles away, they probably know this baby is missing. Sure, it's possible a child located with an adult that LE isn't sure they're supposed to be with could get away if there wasn't a File 6 on the child, BUT, that adult wouldn't give the child's real name anyway. So while this is an agregious error, like resulting in at least a fine for FPD if they, in fact, failed to enter the child, it's not likely (imo) to have made a difference in terms of finding him.
That said, Moe is right, it's also possible the child WAS in NCIC and then it was canceled. That a horse of a different color, and that would mean located or entry error (wasn't actually missing in the first place). So will be interested to see how this plays out.
Moe, in my experience, local law enforcement takes file entries seriously. If I had to bet right now, I'd say the department was overwhelmed by this and it was an oversight.
