As an LEO with a west coast town back in the 80s, I was assigned to a 'Missing Persons Team', which consisted of me, another officer, and a part-time clerk. Back then, it was mostly runaways and we usually found them in less that 24 hours. So I'm told, that team is now a 'Department' consisting of 11 full-time employees, who investigate over 200 cases per year in a town just under 100K. If they don't find them in 24 hours, they rarely find them.
As an LEO with a west coast town back in the 80s, I was assigned to a 'Missing Persons Team', which consisted of me, another officer, and a part-time clerk. Back then, it was mostly runaways and we usually found them in less that 24 hours. So I'm told, that team is now a 'Department' consisting of 11 full-time employees, who investigate over 200 cases per year in a town just under 100K. If they don't find them in 24 hours, they rarely find them.
Take that for what it is.