This is exactly the reason that I proposed to my local representative the idea that police should not be paid for their time in court if the charges are dismissed by a judge. Give them the same incentive to avoid writing dubious tickets as you have currently in avoiding pissing of a cop who can hang dubious tickets over your head.
Of course when this was forwarded to the police department they naturally disagreed. They want the power to, at the very least, make someone miss work and sit around in court all day.
If I were you I would have asked what kind of complaint or procedure must be filed to get the cop cited for tailgating.
Police naturally become John Waynes, even when they didn't start out that way. When you believe that your job is so important, that, by extension, YOU are so important, with a badge and a gun and the ability to command any citizen at any time under threat of arrest or use of deadly force, pretty soon you start to believe that the rights of others aren't as important as your mission to keep society from descending into anarchy.
Which is why I'm a Clint Eastwood fan. Never did like John Wayne.