Yes, the landlord should be contacted because of a breach of contract. Not the police

At least in the US civil and criminal law are two totally different things.

Right, as in most places, so why would you involve the police in a civil matter?

In the US it's usually a city or county ordinance we're talking about, which can be criminal. Some cities have some kind of code enforcement officers to handle those cases, but a lot of the time this is handled by the police.