I fly for Public Safety and I have some mixed feelings on this.
1. We have never and most likely will never use drones for patrol. Currently we only fly to higher end incidents (already in progress police, fire and ems). I personally feel that there could be serious privacy issues brought up by people about a drone patrolling actively. This seems more in line with surveillance and would be a major issue that people would/could complain about.
2. You know your neighborhood better than anyone on this forum, but are you sure you actually have a drug buyer on video? I am not sure how the majority of people would react if as you put it "blinding lights" are being directed at me while I am driving my car.
3. "Blinding" lights being directed at moving cars does not seem to be safe. I am not sure if you are not opening yourself up to liability of some type of responsibility for causing an accident.
4. I know camera angles are deceiving, but are you sure you are not flying directly over moving vehicles?
5. Are you using liability insurance such as one of the On-Demand services? Something to think about. The more you fly over peoples property over and over the greater chance of a mishap that could include property damage or worse such as personal injury.
6. Be aware of using the drone to film above law enforcement while they are on scene in your neighborhood. They may not take kindly to "blinding" light on them on an incident.
I am not trying to be your mother, but these are just some things to think about.
Does your neighborhood have a Neighborhood Watch Program? If not I would truly try to form one with a meeting from law enforcement. There are various programs which your neighborhood could use to form a more organized and accepted program.
National Neighborhood Watch | Crime prevention through neighborhood cohesiveness and collaboration
As mentioned once formed you could then inform all stakeholders in the area of your intentions to add a drone to protecting the neighborhood. It seems like you are truly trying to make your neighborhood a safer place, and who could argue about that. But I can see how people could become irritated by a drone flying up to their car and shining lights on it or lighting up your property at night. Some people do not like feeling as though they are being watched. Also keep in mind about the legal aspects of your video. We have a whole section in our Flight Manual about property rights, viewing rights and also the procedure for chain of custody if the drone records an actual crime.
And finally, you seem to be very close to not flying recreationally. If you are flying as a self neighborhood watch, I would say that you are not flying recreationally. You do not have to receive compensation to have to conduct flights under Part 107. You are stating yourself that you are patrolling the neighborhood and deterring crime so in my opinion (which could be wrong) you need to have a Part 107. Its not like you are flying to just grab some photos and video. Whose guidelines are you using to fly recreationally at night. I was under the assumption that if you flew recreationally at night, you needed to fly under something like the AMA's guidelines in regards to safety. Does your setup have anti-collision lighting also? White flashing at a rate to deter an accident and able to be seen from 3 statute miles? I do not know recreational at night rules too well, but in the name of safety, whether needed or not you should have the above mentioned anti-collision lights added too, especially if a police helicopter is known to travel the area.
Once again not trying to be your mom, just trying to add my 2 cents about things to consider.