Comments from the peanut gallery.....
I do not currently live in SoWal (in Texas), but Furthur makes a good point. My neighbor was at one point keeping pigs in his garage, and we live in the middle of town where that is definitely not allowed (and not a humane situation either). He also re-graded his driveway, causing my side yard to drainage issues where there were none previously. Would I report him? No way - he's a nut! And probably heavily armed.
Can you see now why I would love to relocate?
Just my opinion, I would vote for letting the officials do their job. I'm not one to criticize someone for not having the correct mailbox or whatever, but the alternatives can be unpleasant. Or even hazardous, as SmilingJoe mentioned.
In my town, volunteer vigilanties take care of the "proactive enforcement". They hop out of nowhere from their cars and spend their days reporting on and taking photos of illegal yard sale signs, people whose wheels touch the line of handicapped parking places etc. They harassed a girl I knew for [they thought] improperly using someone else's hangtag, until she removed her wig and showed them she was a cancer patient in chemotherapy. Even though I properly registered my yard sale last year and used the proper signs in the proper places, the anxiety over a several hundred dollar fine if they weren't just right was really not worth it. Like I said, I would support "code patrol" that was at least official
in my town.