Criminals already have better weaponry then majority of PD and SWAT/SED at times. In what world is it realistic for a gang that is usually filled with street thugs to possess not only better weaponry, but the same or better armor than a heavily funded law enforcement agency? I read these threads over and over again, with the simple notion from criminals is #NerfPD. As someone who is in SWAT and gets in A LOT of shootouts with gangs, PD armor does not need to be nerfed. In the last 6 months of me being in SWAT, I utilized my 200 AP armor 3 times in shootouts:
1st - Being against Deroses at Burgershot (2022),
2nd - Shootout with 9iners in front of Arcadius (2023),
3rd - Intercepted a Div 6 and RS shootout at scrapyard (2023)
Out of these 3 shootouts, I only survived the Deroses, the 9iners and Div 6 ones I got shredded and died easily. PD rarely utilizes this armor, and it has to be RP'd to be put on. As for our generic 150 AP armor, same deal here, you can and will get melted by criminals if they actually coordinate and have proper weapons to support it. I have seen criminals with Special Carbines w/ silencers and grips on them with 100 AP armor. Why would it make sense to have us have a max armor of 100 AP, and have worse weaponry?
This reply might not mean anything to anyone, but if you don't believe me, join PD or SD, get into some shootouts, and you will realize we aren't "OP." PD/SD is restricted by heavy IC policies which ultimately helps criminals, when on the flip side, criminals can do anything they realistically want. So we may have good armor, but we lose the freedom that criminals have with fights/shootouts, which is for the better.
TLDR; If you have the numbers, are coordinated, and are just better are shooting people (Which crims are usually better at fighting than PD/SD), then fighting cops shouldn't be a problem and you have pretty high chances of winning and if you don't believe it, join PD/SD and try it for yourself