This.   My neighborhood is only a small unincorporated part of the city (inside the city, outside of city limits) and we are surrounded by high density housing.   Most of us know each other if only casually (the homeowners and residents of the neighborhood), but we all maintain a watchful eye and are familiar with which vehicles are regular. Due to the spacing of houses and size of plots, I'd say about half of us have some sort of basic range/target area in the yard somewhere and it's a normal occurrence to hear occasional gunshots coming from nearby.   The people in the high density frequently call the police about smoke coming from (controlled) brush fires, or the gunshots and fireworks.   City police never come through (dead end road, outside their jurisdiction), and the Sheriff that patrols this area already knows 75% of the homeowners in the neighborhood.