Your situation sounds similar to mine. I'm just outside of Springfield (NE of Dayton) and went looking for laws before I got my chickens. It took a long time to get the answer I needed (well, any answer). That's not because of an unhelpful attitude but because in my area chickens just seem to be somewhere in-between pets and livestock. Nobody seemed to know. It took a while to talk to "the" person who could answer my questions. In the end, my code enforcement officer was that person. I learned that where I live, state law is the one that is on the books (5+ acres if in a platted subdivision). Enforcement is delegated to the municipality (township, for me) by the state. The attitude is that if the township doesn't have a law to enforce, no enforcement can take place, and that the state can enforce state law. Only health regulations and public nusiance issues are enforced. That's not the slam-dunk that I had hoped for, but I found the conversation very reassuring. So did my zoning officer, who was more accustomed to the "better to ask forgiveness than permission" approach.
Since that time, I've had the same zoning officer on my property for another issue (invited) and he had nothing to say about my setup. The birds are quiet, the coop and run are clean and there's no smell. I spoke with my neighbors before starting, and they were all fine with it.
I know that all this doesn't answer your question directly, but I guess that what I'm saying is that the zoning officer might be the person to speak with. Police don't monitor zoning issues and are probably not as in-touch with the regulations.
