For those that don't have a lot of background on this, the cops aren't allowed to chase anymore. A while back, a chase did happen and a cop ended up killing a rider. Rider's family sued the city and won (police called off the chase, but cop still followed and ran him into the back of another vehicle)
Now, there's better communication between the riders and the cops and the main characters that you see in the videos supposedly won't ride on the sidewalks or run red lights unless they are chased by the cops. There are previous videos of them doing such things anyways without a chase, but they've supposedly made a promise to not do that unless chased.
I should also note that NY has a lot 1 way streets. A dirtbike will always be able to make use of being able to go the wrong way on those streets. A police car trying the same thing? Not happening.