two thoughts relevant to this conversation:

1. cops here in portland, oregon don't seem to give a crap what bikers do. i run reds and do stupid crap in front of them all the time and they just watch me go by. which is pretty sweet.

2. in the same vein, i completely agree that if you're going to do something stupid, you should be willing to accept consequences. sometimes i wait for lights and ride like a car (mostly when i'm tired) and i seem to get a lot more respect when i do that. and then other times i just say screw it and do whatever i feel like. i then have to expect that i'm a lot more of a target to cars on the road, which is fine. that mentality is reflected in my riding - i generally give cars a lot wider berth when i'm doing something stupid.

$.02