HAYWARD — Police referred an 8-year-old boy who went missing overnight and his family to the department's social services division after determining that no crime occurred and the boy simply did not want to go home.

Police said the incident began Tuesday afternoon when the third-grader got into minor trouble at Treeview Elementary School and was sent to the principal's office.

His mother arrived to pick him up about 1 p.m. but the boy wasn't there. She spent about three hours searching for her son before calling police.

An official search was launched, and the boy was spotted about 8:15 p.m. playing basketball with classmates on Rivercrest Avenue in Hayward, about two miles from his home. But he

Hayward police brought in about 30 additional people to help search for the boy, and the Alameda County Sheriff's Department sent deputies.

"We take missing juveniles very seriously, especially at that age," said Hayward police Sgt.