Citi Bike, New York City’s fledgling bike-share program, has been quite the hot topic in the media since it began operations on May 27. The New York Timessaid it was a “rousing success” if “judged by the numbers” (over one million miles have been traveled as of June 26), while the New York Postsneered over its glaring technical issues, and Wall Street Journal editorial-board member Dorothy Rabinowitz declared that New York is now a city “whose best neighborhoods are absolutely begrimed . . . by these blazing blue Citi Bank bikes.” (She also called members of the Bloomberg administration “totalitarians.”) Meanwhile, Al Roker rode a Citi Bike into the Today Showstudio.

Yet, while the media has tirelessly debated the merits of Citi Bike, an important question has been left unanswered: What is the city’s police response to the bike program? With more and more bicyclists now hitting the roads, what reactions (and citations) are coming from the men in blue?

Tickets for biking violations can range from $50 (for riding on the sidewalk) to $275 (for running a red light). The ticketing is up to the individual officer on duty, and a police source says there is no particular mandate to target bikers—even after the launch of the Citi Bike program. One officer even explained to VF Daily that citing bicycles is often complicated, as their riders are frequently argumentative, ignorant of the laws, and sometimes don’t even recognize that a cop is trying to pull them over. She added that almost every day she witnesses cyclists almost get into accidents with cars or pedestrians crossing the road.

As use of Citi Bikes continues to grow, confrontations between bikers and police are inevitable. Gothamistreported earlier this week that an officer in the N.Y.P.D.’s Ninth Precinct said he was “absolutely” targeting bicyclists. He pulled over a Citi Bike rider for running a red light, and after the rider began to argue, the officer said, “I'm not trying to pick on you, this is for safety. You shouldn't even be riding a bike in New York.”

Recent reports from Fox 5 News say that there has been a noticeable spike in tickets for bicycling violations. Since Citi Bike launched, a month ago, police have issued 510 tickets in Brooklyn—only 282 were issued during the same period in 2012, meaning that cycling tickets in the borough are up 81 percent. In Manhattan, police have issued 484 tickets this month, up nearly 7 percent since this time last year.

*Vanity Fair *photography producer Ron Beinner also recently had his own run-in with the bike law. Riding along the 8th Avenue bike path heading north to Times Square, Beinner was pedaling alongside a dozen or so commuters, many on Citi Bikes. At about 21st Street, “a man in head-to-toe blue appeared, left hand on hip, right hand out,” explains Beinner. “He was in the far crosswalk. He took up the entire lane and took us all by surprise, capturing as many of us as his broad shoulders and outstretched arm could corral. He insisted I was speeding, and that everyone behind me had run the red light.”

Beinner got a $50 ticket for speeding, but others got $275 tickets for running a red light. “One of my compatriots was furious, stomping and spewing expletives and demanding an explanation. ‘Quotas . . . yada yada . . . Don’t the N.Y.P.D. have better things to do?’” Beinner said. “Our officer explained calmly that the fine of $275 for running a red light [is] for both bicycles and cars. He continued to tell us that the N.Y.P.D. officers were on a ‘mission to prevent bicycle-pedestrian incidents.’ “

Beinner’s isn’t the only story of Citi Bikers feeling unfairly ticketed. “NYPD gave me a ‘driving ticket’ on my first ever Citi-bike ride this a.m. So lame. Going 2 mph on cobblestones up a 1-way on Mercer St in SoHo,” one rider lamented on Twitter. Another sniped, “Pretty clear from today's NYPD cyclists ticket blitz that it's about revenue & harassment. Protecting pedestrians doesn't factor in at all.”

It may be too early to tell the N.Y.P.D.’s response to Citi Bike as a whole, but one thing is clear: some cops are not as tolerant of bicycles as you might think.