Anecdotally, the area has some bearing on cop behavior, but as always YMMY. Typically, I've seen major city cops & speed trap cops are generally efficient. They will issue a citation, or provide a verbal warning and send the individual on their way.
Cops in rural areas with very little to do and very little oversight from say fellow state troopers tend to sour and abuse their power in ways the uneducated would have no idea that their rights were being trampled on.
Even when people know, if there's no consequence (e.g. got illegally searched, but nothing was found), people tend to not bother with obtaining justice against these behaviors as the time and money involved to complain, sue, etc brings very little reward for the effort involved. So we have a feedback loop where cops can abuse their power and nothing of consequence ever really comes about.
If the power abuse yields are juicy find such as alcohol, drugs or any illegal product, people will tend to be more preoccupied with getting charged, that they also have little wherewithal to attempt to seek justice for the given officer's actions. Thus we have another feedback loop that positively reinforces abusive behavior. Trample on someone's right and make them a felon, then get a pat on the back for taking said felon off the streets.
Cops in rural areas with very little to do and very little oversight from say fellow state troopers tend to sour and abuse their power in ways the uneducated would have no idea that their rights were being trampled on.
Even when people know, if there's no consequence (e.g. got illegally searched, but nothing was found), people tend to not bother with obtaining justice against these behaviors as the time and money involved to complain, sue, etc brings very little reward for the effort involved. So we have a feedback loop where cops can abuse their power and nothing of consequence ever really comes about.
If the power abuse yields are juicy find such as alcohol, drugs or any illegal product, people will tend to be more preoccupied with getting charged, that they also have little wherewithal to attempt to seek justice for the given officer's actions. Thus we have another feedback loop that positively reinforces abusive behavior. Trample on someone's right and make them a felon, then get a pat on the back for taking said felon off the streets.