[Police Chief from the story:] "If one kid had come there, even hadn't drank there, but had come there and had been drinking and had left and crashed and burned, then what would the sentiment be? Why didn't the police check everybody out?" There could be drunks or crooks hiding anywhere the police go. I guess that means they need to conduct a full search and give everyone a sobriety test on every call, even if the police are just going to get an old lady's cat out of a tree. After all, there could have a been a drunk there that the police missed.
Never mind that whole 4th Amendment business, just make sure then police don't miss anything. < /s>
It's about probable cause. When police respond to an obvious party, they announce their presence, and kids begin pouring out of the house running away, they have probable cause to believe something criminal is in progress. If they
don't go in an determine what's going on, and investigate to see if a crime(s) has taken place, they're not doing their jobs.
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!