True, but people will do a fucking lot of stupid stuff to get out of being hurt. Think about all the times people lie to put off something that was going to happen anyways or worse but they did it anyways knowing that. Hell, people do that shit in relationships lol. Can speak from experience on that one.
Yeah, they need to go full tilt with this. If they're going to make these characters go full Gestapo you can't half-ass it and try to paint it in anything but what it is.