there are good cops and bad cops...just like any profession. i have had positive and negative interactions with them, too.

-i had full support of a cop when i was doored (while riding my fixie) and he wrote up a report threatening to charge the driver (and he deferred to ask me whether i felt it was important to proceed).
-i had a cop pull a drunk driver off to jail that a friend and i were able to get to pull over (the driver was surprisingly willing to stop and was so drunk he was driving with a completely flat front tire with sparks flying off the rim!). i am grateful he was taken off the road for my safety and other cyclists!
-one of my best friends is a cop and has arrested guys beating their wife/gf (drunken domestic violence is one of his most common calls...usually guys beating women). sure, that has nothing to do with cycling, but what i am trying to say is that to broadly claim that all cops are pigs is ignorant.

do i need cops? i think so. do i feel they are sometimes harsh on what i believe are pointless exercises in enforcement? sure. as i said, there are some pigs, but, at least some of them, have been positive examples. similarly, there are also bad cyclists! would i complain about a getting a ticket for running a red light? yes, but only about the fact that i was so stupid not to notice the cop! unfortunately, some regulations have been created which cops enforce, sometimes with varying degrees of vigilence...if you do not like them, do something to change them! if you are not doing anything (pro)active, it is pointless to just complain about somebody doing their job.

finally, i am curious, for anyone complaining about the seemingly trivial nature of specific traffic regulations/violations, how many of you are actively involved in your community (e.g., cycling advocacy groups, police/citizen/community liason committees, municipal politics, etc.) to try to effect positive changes?? it is very easy to b!tch and complain (especially on forums), but to produce changes requires work, time and effort!