I've done some stupid **** on the road in front of police before (not knowingly, they were just in the oncoming traffic at a light I just blew through - that kind of thing) but never been pulled over.
I think it does have a lot to do with how you're handling yourself and how you look - I probably look like a nutbar cyclist, so they figure I know what I'm upto and not causing any problems.
The odd time there've been accidents or like last night, electricity and phone wires and miscellaneous vehicle parts strewn all over the road I've had to talk to police, sober or not, and asked them if I can go on the sidewalk or how to get around the problem quicker than their detour - I'm always very polite, always do the "yes sir, no sir" game and had no trouble. The only time I had a guy start to get in my face was when I was asking him why the police were ticketing for running reds at Critical Mass that month, when the previous month they corked for us - he got pretty uppity at that, I left it alone after we were all bunched as "*******s". I waited for him to finish writing my buddy a failure to stop ticket before asking... as I went through the same light as my buddy right beside him
