I do recall seeing 3 servers being completely full and having to spam enter my way into the server, WAY before tilde guideline was a thing. Back then no one even questioned how identities were known, it was just a part of the game. Cops also got a lot more money for arresting people and had 0 incentive to give people reduced tickets. Yet people kept coming back.
Also, with regards to training sessions, they really just don't work. Being able to RP is something that just comes with practice, some people are better at it, some are worse. All RP training sessions ever did was cause 25+ cops to start using the exact same RP as everyone else, until the next session came where they learned a new "RP" technique to use. I remember when we first taught people that an example to get an identity is to take blood samples, and that got out of hand REALLY fast, and was then frowned upon. At this point SAPD literally says not to use it. This sort of thing happens every training session.