In defense of the police...

After Jill's initial abduction the police were unable to find any corroborating evidence, or leads, to back up her story. If anything the blame should fall on her abductor, Jim, for doing such a thorough job of covering his tracks. After the case was closed, Jill began hounding Detective Powers "every week" claiming that other missing girls were also victims of the same man that had abducted her. At that point you really can't blame the cops for thinking that she was delusional, or possibly just seeking attention. Women lie to the cops about crimes all the time, and if you don't realize this you will be made a fool of, and often. It seems that the only thing that the police might have dropped the ball on was that they called off the search in the park after only a week; however, what we aren't told is how much ground they covered, how many officers were involved, and what the week long search cost the taxpayers. Since her story never checked out in the first place it is possible that they were fully justified in cutting their losses with the man hunt. Most crimes of this nature go unsolved anyways, so no one should be surprised that the abductor/killer went on to strike again, which ultimately proved to be his downfall. Also, in fairness, Detective Hood was clearly on her side and made numerous attempts to help her with the investigation; however she immediately blew him off, in order to seek her vigilante justice. This was a tragedy all around, but simply blaming the police for "writing her off" is naive, to say the least.