The correct answer is the bystander effect.
In psychology, the bystander effect refers to a form of apathy, to the fact that people are less likely to offer someone help if there are other people around. They will think that they don't need to do anything about the situation because someone else will do it. So in the case above, the neighbors might have thought that someone else will call the police, but apparently no one did.
To the British, they're simply keeping the Americans in their place, and doing as they were told. They're keeping the people in check, and using lethal weaponry was enabled.
To the Americans, this was a sign of tyranny, of an unjust king who was using power to keep his subjects in line, and killing those who did not follow through with his ideals.
The difference in perspective is the ones being ruled hate being ruled over, and the ones ruling are simply exercising their power to keep the plebeians in check.
