"I somewhat remember illegal factions having the same issue if cops started breathing on their neck 24/7. So I strongly believe it will be an opposite reaction."
There's a difference between breathing on their neck 24/7 and simply allowing cops to be in the area and show presence, fyi cops were told to avoid Jamestown and Davis as much as possible.
"Roleplay servers keep their people because they have put some commitment in it and they do not want to start from 0 by moving to another server or faction. In our case, players haven't put as much commitment to their characters to develop in such a short period, which means that if something happens and they don't like it - they can just jump ships and nothing will keep them back, but the nostalgia of LSRP which might keep them back."
This has nothing to do with what I said, increasing police presence doesn't mean everybody gets arrested, simply means you're present in the area and you can respond and/or prevent unplanned and dumb shootouts from happening.
"The "serious" roleplayers that you put in brackets, I assume because you do not take seriously the statement, is people like me. I got demotivated two days in a row due to silly interactions with civilians/criminal roleplayers and I logged off immediately after these situations. I could have stayed online for about 4-5 hours that day, but I didn't, I decided to play another game."
You're the one that put brackets around serious in the first place, just following your trend.
If the game is not enjoyable because you get demotivated that's fair, if you're encountering bad roleplay you should report it on the forums and if you're getting shot for dumb reasons you should also report that. If you think they shoot too much in the areas you're patrolling then you should consider reading my suggestions in regards to police presence.
"These players had weapons from someone, cause they weren't PF guns. If they were actually affiliated with a faction, then we go back to previous posts which state that we should have a way to control the faction RP quality on the illegal side and how guns are distributed in the server. Cause the same players, if they die from the police presence you suggest, they will respawn - farm some hours, make 1k and go buy another gun to go all over again. You see the circle of stupidity we put ourselves into if we decide to just increase police activity in gang areas?
And meanwhile, because of some bad apples, you force the illegal factions who actually RP their side properly to face cops daily in their area because 2 or 3 people are messing around with guns. And why they mess around? Because they are here to troll or they are not educated enough on what standards the server set for criminal RP."
Trust me that if they respawn and keep shooting they will end up getting kicked from their own faction or they will not be given guns anymore by faction leadership.
Facing cops in gang neighborhoods is simply realistic, gangs have to deal with them and they can't simply wild out in public and expect to get away with it without repercussions.
Trying to come up with 25 OOC ways and rules to stop IC issues is not good for roleplay and never will be.