They definitely ran my plates when I applied for a permit to check if I had outstanding tickets. They don’t usually call the police department because that isn’t usually handle by the police department but by the traffic department and the RMV.

And about the officer coming to bang on the door - that’s definitely happened to me - but because I missed the no parking sign that was put up the day before for moving vans and tree work. They’re usually pretty nice about it. They’re really doing you a solid because the towing is so expensive and Phil’s towing is just god awful.

These two incidences aren’t abnormal. They probably just occurred to close in time that you may have perceived it as such