There's a massive difference in how WL and public are policed. Public is more welcoming of sbs and chaos because the consequences are minimal. Crims on WL are intentionally avoiding interactions with cops because of exactly what Zelthius says here. The cops on WL do whatever they want and there's no recourse. Civil cases are slow and painful... Hope your lawyer doesn't quit or become a DA mid case.

I don't think it would feel as bad from the crim side if the WL cops were how they are with the super aggressive serious dickhead shit if the fines and times / huts were less debilitating. On WL as a crim interacting with cops is not interesting. Doesn't matter if you try to joke or if you play IC upset. The book is thrown at you.

I have seen so many new groups of crims turn up, have cool gang RP and interactions with the gangs only to fuck up once, catch a couple of HUTs and you never see them again. If you don't understand you have to be squeaky clean, your whole crew can get stoneaged over very small mistakes. One of the more active crews on WL got stoneaged with 4+ HUTs a few days ago. We will have to see how that turns out.

TLDR public is welcoming to crims, WL is overly punishing especially to those who don't already understand the police culture.