Ditto. The house to house search was unnecessary as proven by events. Not to mention your hypothetical hostage situation which ends with dead hostages and perp and maybe a dead cop since house to house is extremely risky.
The reality of the situation is that Joker did drive away, and he led the police to a neighborhood in Watertown
Wrong. There was no pursuit, they lost him. Searching specific houses is legitimate only in hot pursuit.
At some point, they found the abandoned hijacked SUV, and they picked up a blood trail and they knew he was on foot.
Hindsight proves that to be true. But the police did not have a visual on him they had to make decisions based on the best information they had.
The police DO know that many fleeing fugitives WILL enter a house and take hostages. Sometimes, like Christopher Dorner, they will bind and gag them and steal their car.