24 hours missing person?

Okay, so in the U.S., someone has to be missing for 24 hours before you can report them missing, right? Or...I guess it might be 48 hours. Anyway, I believe this only applies to adults, but not to children.

One of my co-workers insists that when her...

brother was in the 7th grade and didn't come home from school, they called the police when 5 hours had passed and they had no idea where he was. She says the police insisted they couldn't do anything for 24 hours.

But, aren't the first 24 hours very important in cases where a child has been abducted? And, 7th grade boys can, and are, abducted...a few cases have been in the news lately.

So, I honestly believe the co-worker was just trying to dramatize her story by including that thing about the police (she's known to do this). The police would take action, right?

Yes the police would respond right away in the case of a missing child. You co-worker was just trying to make the story sound more suspenseful and/or trying to make you feel sorry for her.