I think there should be at least one place where everyone can hide, even when chased. Same would happen in very populated city, where you could loose people coming after you by hiding somewhere. If you are armed - sure thing you can try to kill someone chasing you, but when you cannot do shit - you will be just KOSed or arrested. This thing could add a lot to RP and would make escapes more exciting, as you could hide with good amount of luck and guys chasing you would be under pressure, to catch you before you hit the safe spot.
Hideouts for the win, I believe civ spawn is a good place for that, as there is a crowd of civiliana and you can literally hide between some buildings