Not quite true, so I’ll put my true thoughts here rather than the game thread.
I feel that omitting a cop has two factors that must be addressed in order to establish a balanced game. (1) The diminished power of not having a cop and (2) The added power given to scum regarding a false cop claim. In my opinion, Cecil Pond addressed (1) but not (2).
In other words, lack of cop in a game isn’t in and of itself unbalanced. A balanced game could be made with no cop – for example, a diminished number of starting scum could balance the ability of scum to safely claim cop.
On a related thought, It occurred to me that the JSP point system is inadequate regarding Godfather and Detective roles. JSP give 4 points for a Detective (i.e., +3 over vanilla town) and 7 points for Godfather (+2.5 over vanilla scum). Thus, in the theoretical situation where scum kill the detective on Night One, the net result is Town loses 3 points more than a vanilla kill, but scum ALSO LOSE 2.5 points since the Godfather is now functionally vanilla.
Something isn’t right there.