The cop/wanted system is atrocious for a 2020 game, its so poorly implemented.
To be honest, it really seems like a placeholder system that would be used during development. We all know the devs ran out of time, even after getting crunched, so odds are what we have is a "good enough" system to get the game out of the door.
A terrible decision to have such a bare bones system in the game, and its not the devs fault, the fault lays at the feet of those who signed off on the system and the rest of the game.