Well, the police don't want chickens to become widespread. Some of the police officers I have talked to told me stories about people living in Great Brook Valley who took their kitchen cabinet doors off, put up wire, and kept chickens in their cabinets. So, obviously, that can't be allowed, since those are rentals and it costs the city and state a lot of money to clean up and fix after/if the renters ever leave.
But yes, the police never went back to your neighbor because there is no law prohibiting them,.
When the police write you a speeding ticket, on the ticket, they cite the actual law, chapter section and subsection citing you with a fine for exceeding the speed limit. If there couldn't cite a law that you broke, they couldn't write you a fine. Because if you protested the ticket in court, the judge would toss the fine and the case due to there being no such law. (much like what the judge did with the chicken case)
If chickens were illegal, there would be some sort of penalty or fine for having them. And believe you me, they would write a ticket for your neighbor if they could extract a fine from him. But since there is no law to cite, which would specify the consequences for having a chicken, they don't.
It is a sad day in this nation that the police say, "Oh, such and such is illegal" when A) Police officers are not lawyers and B) Average citizens fail to go and actually look it up. Worcester laws are all online. I read them. A'int nothing there prohibiting chickens.
