All police investigations begin with a blank slate. Unless, it is a crime in progress, the process begins in one of two ways: a person goes into the station to make a report or, a person calls in and an officer is dispatched to take the report.
The initial report is made based on what the reporting person tells the officer. At this point, the officer is a recorder, writing down what he is being told. At this point there is probably no reason to disbelieve the information he is being given. The officer may make some observations of his own at this time. What is the demeanor of the reporting person? Does the information make sense? Is there evidence to back up what the reporting person is telling the officer? Is there anything that contradicts what the person is telling the officer?
The next step is based on all of the above.
In a missing person’s case the first thing will depend on age and circumstance. Of course adults have the right to disappear and not tell anybody. So from there you try to find out if there is evidence that the disappearance is not voluntary and go from there.
A child’s disappearance is much different. Although some children are chronic runaways, and some from quite a young age, the fact is that a young child is very vulnerable whether their disappearance is voluntary or not.
In missing children’s cases you will always go back to the reporting person, what they told you, and if it can be corroborated.
Who last saw the child?
When?
Where?
Do the pieces fit?
This is how the investigation starts and how it grows. Does LE make mistakes? Yes, they do. But they start out with the information they are given to begin with. Sometimes it takes longer than we would like to verify that. It can be very frustrating for the public, but also for the officers themselves.
MOO
button cause I’d hit it twice on your post. Thank you so much. 
