You are right that you are not going to get any PILOT support here. I am not a pilot, I work with helocopters in the medevac and LEO air patrol part of work.
REGARDLESS if FAR's permit it. COMMON SENSE tells you that OPERTING a helo over a RESIDENTIAL AREA AT THAT LEVEL IS, just plain STUPID!
UNLESS
1) Active LE pursuit for a crime. Not patrols!
2) Active SAR
3) Active fire surpression
4) Some other active real life threating need to be at that level
Yes, we've all seen the cites on FAR. Now, lets start by engaging BRAIN and COMMON SENSE. Just becuase it is legal, doesn't mean it MAKES SENSE to do this on a normal opreations basis.