i was talking with a cop on saturday afternoon, in a bike shop of all places, and his words on this subject were 'cops dont get to make the laws'. he also likened the whole cause of this to the 'one bad apple' example, stating that this type of thing wouldnt be necessary if the yahoos out there wouldnt hurt other people.
i asked him if the nypd wasnt making the rule change themselves, who sponsored the proposed amendments? he couldnt say. i also asked him why if an accident between a cyclist and a ped would result in the nypd being able to take more bikes off the street, then why wouldnt an accident between a car & a ped mean taking more cars off the street? again, no clear answer.
the nypd doesnt know it's f***ing ass from a hole in the ground.

edit: furthermore, the whole idea of 'selective enforcement', from a purely rights-driven perspective, is terrifying. of course the nypd isnt going to **** with tourist groups. that money pouring into the city is a huge part of the economy. of course they arent going to harass you & yr grandma for crossing the street against a light. the real fact of the matter is that when you are standing before a judge, and question exactly why the cop decided to stop YOU and let the car that just made an illegal u turn on jay street go, he can say 'because' and that's all the answer he has to give. you can demand to know exactly what the process is by which the cop decides who to ticket, but the fact of the matter is that if there is no specific criteria he can point to other than what he 'felt' like doing, you not only have diminished rights, you cant even say for sure when you are going to be singled out.