So, that whole huge picture was really unneeded.
Originally, I wanted to bring up this type of discussion as well.
I personally am a rank 10 cop as well. I enjoy playing cop from time to time, one thing that I really wanted to do is fly the Sea Sparrow helicopter that has a gun on it.
From my experience neither the airplane 'nor the sea sparrow are too op for cops in terms of damage. Yet there is one issue, that I don't know how the server could combat.
Cops have it too good in terms of mobility. They have all these planes, helis, super fast cars w/o needing to place a lot of work in.
A good example was when me and my friend were fighting Clara (the admin girl, who likes to play cop alot).
Me and my friend were both 6 stars wanted. Clara chased us with the shooting airplane and jumped out. We had a battle with her at Flint Intersection. We barely won, both with low hp. I instantly got in my Banshee after that and headed straight to the neared LS Hospital. And by the time we got there, she was back again with another airplane. She spawned at Fort Carson and just took a random car to Area 69 and got a plane there. She got back with full armor and weapons in like under 1 minute or so.
This isn't suspicious, but what I'm trying to say is that she can 'reset' super quickly, while us criminals just have to fight endless waves of cops w/o the ability to get our health, armor or ammo back inbetween fights. It's unreal.
So I think the worst thing you can do, is give them helis that can one shot and can't be stopped pretty much. I'd like to fly a hydra myself, but it would just be too unfair.