Your, "By dawn, several people had reported the crime", is a good example of the proper use of the past perfect. By the time something happened, something else had already happened.

Good example of the past perfect.

"By the time they reached Amman, the sun had set over the western hills."

David Ignatius in "Body of Lies".

Another, same source.

(Alice and Ferris are at their picnic site.)

"Alice had packed a lunch of French bread, wine, cheese, prosciutto and melon."

.brad.18feb08.

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Brad,
   I think all serious linguists would disagree with you. In
phrases like
"was told", "had told", "have told", "is told", "told" is not
carrying
tense. The finite is in the "be" or "have" auxiliary. Passive
and
perfect call for the past participle, which is identical to past
tense
with regular verbs but often has its own form for irregular
verbs
(broken, bought, and so on.)
   The same is true when these function as adjectives. "The
edited text".
"The broken watch". "The reported crime."
   "The text was edited in house." "By dawn, several people had
reported
the crime." The first is past passive. The second is past
perfect. In
present tense, only the auxiliary changes. "Texts are edited in
house."
"Several people have reported the crime."