kris giggs

A bit of a paradox here. It is realistic for cops to respond in such a large number, and it unrealistic for a street gang or mafia per se to chase someone in a convoy - in a large grouping. The police will always have the upper hand, as it should, as it does in real life, and the reason the rules are so direct and stifling is because people only promote realism when it suits them. The whole argument here is, if we can't have it, they can't either, and if they have it, we should have it as well which is a very bad narrative to spread in these instances. The rules have progressed immensely and as someone who felt what the rules were like in 2019 (which is what you are pushing for with this topic) on their own skin, we are in a much better place. Someone has to keep the gangs in check so they don't go out of control and turn the server into a TDM - police in an in-character setting, and sadly, the rules, since the community, specifically past (un)official criminal factions had different ideas compared to Faction Services and executive staff I can imagine.

+1. I feel this is not an intended feature, and if it is, removing it should be even easier.

That's not entirely true. All of the recent updates seem to revolve around enticing the community to come together more and increase engagement, Burgershot is a prime example. But to roughly answer your question, you run into Mission Row with your mask, an Officer tells you to take it off - you already have a roleplay scenario, but the Officer walks out with you and sees you illegally parked your vehicle, they now have more reason to interact with you on both accounts, as an Officer, and as someone potentially seeking to expand their roleplay. The suggestion is fine, but the way you look at paying fines at Mission Row seems like a pitstop for the impound when to some players it's really not. I think players could have both options available.

Felony evading is not a small crime as given in your comparison. Running on foot from the police is very serious, let along in a car in which you might kill someone, kill another Officer, and yourself. People often evade for a reason, they might have drugs, they might have a gun, or they are already wanted, in which occasion, you present yourself as a significant threat from the very beginning which in turn will call for a more serious, and intimidating response. In real life, no Officer in LA, or anywhere really will approach you with tazer, let alone barehanded after you just ran from them. Depending on how long your pursuit goes on, and if it endangers other people or participants in traffic your tires might get taken in areas where the public is not put in acute danger by doing so. If you get hit and killed during this, you guessed it, it's an IC issue. Running from the police should not be taken lightly by either side. How will you estimate whether a crime involves a weapon or not? I can evade, which obviously does not involve a gun by itself, and after the pursuit I pull one out, what happens? Cops have their tazers out and now I can put them under FRP, does that make sense?