Re: putting asside the night life...
Police raids have been happening all around the country for as long as I've been visiting (7 years). Most of those detained are released without charges. Things get quiet for a while and then pick back up. Hot spots change, as do the people that frequent them. This is not a "Boca Chica" thing. They happen all around the country, especially in Santo Domingo. It is really no big deal.
Boca Chica is much more than a few bars on Calle Duarte from 1-4am. In fact, thousands of couples and families come to Boca Chica and LOVE it. There is a mix of everything in Boca Chica. Kind of like a mini NYC on the beach. Expensive or cheap, classy or casual, mostly tourists or mostly locals. Tourists from all parts of the world come here. It has a high concentration of excellent restaurants, a fantastic beach, some great big hotels and some really nice small ones. I spent a fantastic day on the beach today and if it hadn't been closed, I would have played a round of golf as well (Los Marlins).
One can find whatever they seek - be it non-stop fun or peace and quiet. The beach is 1.5 miles long from the Marina to the Hamaca and the town of Boca Chica proper extents 1/2 mile to the highway. There are a variety of businesses throughout. What you described hardly defines this town of more than 10,000 people.
Rumor is, that the Boca Chica area is poised to be the largest and most developed destination in the Dominican Republic, with the 4 mile strip of land from the new electric plant to the Marina, to be developed into a strip of executive level hotels. The largest port in the country is to be built there, along with a huge free-zone and multiple stops daily by cruise ships. The helipcopters were surveying just yesterday. The beach is to be expanded as well to reinact the 60-meter law since there has been much erosion over the years, leaving a few businesses with as little as 30 feet of frontage.