Even when you make a clear rule that you can't go past the power line and into the neighborhood, somebody sometimes does.
Do you really want the police to ignore a distress call of prowlers trampling their tomatoes?
No court hearing. No criminal record. Parents involved, but nobody too worked up. Just a valuable life lesson about respecting others and taking responsibility. The angry homeowner still hires the kid to mow their lawn. No hard feelings.
Do we really want our police to be judge, jury, arbitrator, and parole officer?
Well, in this little sketch of Mayberry, my answer is yes. If only we could always exist in the sunny side of Mayberry. It only takes one person in this story to take us out of Mayberry. Fortunately, there are millions of people who do their part everyday to maintain some sense of Mayberry in their community. Some of them are even police officers.
Not a huge fan of people owning their own guns, but needs must when it comes to your country I suppose.
It'd be a bit like me seeing a biography of a French alcoholic and riffing on it with "Tbf if I lived in France and I was out to eat [in their fabulous elaborate traditional gourmand cuisine], I'd buy at least one bottle of wine with a meal. Not a huge fan of people drinking too much, but needs must when it comes to your country I suppose."
And many other stats available. I think my point still stands.
Do keep in mind that these stories aren't taking place in downtown SF or Seattle. In most of the US police respond very quickly to most calls, including real crimes.
And in this case (fugitive) it's likely that the callers didn't know there was a game going on, all they knew was that there were some people acting very strangely in their neighborhood. Dispatch can't distinguish between a legitimate crime spree and overworried neighbors.