Yes and no..
Spectral has a good way of looking at it. If you want to be dedicated to the police force and go up ranks etc, then you should be rewarded for what you do.
Giving vests out and having people give them away because they're cheaper is one reason why we don't allow these sort of things on a public slot. Same goes with medics.
But the only thing I can think of, is to give them a civilian vest, like at the Sydney market and make it the same price globally. For medics, for cops and for civs/rebels
To be honest, the public slots shouldn't really be going into anything dangerous like Bank or FED. They're there to learn the role play, the processing, 10-codes, lights and sirens and when to use them etc. They have to learn the basics before going into a battle. They're more there as crowd control and patrolling the streets, not go in the outskirts where there will be high rebel activity and run out with a taser gun that shoots 3 tasers at one time.