In Des Moines last year an apartment complex burned down because someone was running a meth lab in a ground floor apartment.
When asking the question "If you were doing something stupid, would you do it here?" you cannot assume the idiot who would actually do said stupid activity is, in fact, only as stupid as you. For that reason it isn't really unreasonable to err on the side of caution and let the authorities deal with it.
I've had a couple of very nice discussions with the police here in Urbandale. Now they know me, they know what I do. It actually is kind of nice to know the local cops by name. I try to meet any new folks in the neighborhood and get to know them a bit. I make sure to include brewing in my bio when introducing myself. In 18 years I've only had one person shun me because they opposed alcohol use and therefore brewing. Get to know your neighbors becuase it's important for more reasons than brewing.
Paul