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To paraphrase a commenter on the article: “you thought this was common only in tinpot dictatorships and failing states, and you were right.”

To answer my question for The Netherlands, it is my impression that cops are held to a higher standard and are punished equally—if not more harshly—than normal citizens when caught.

I have recently heard about a case in Poland where a police officer was punished for not being professional. Something like a Ukrainian made a negative comment about "Polish police" when stopped for speeding or leaving his car or something and the officer responded with something like, "if you don't like it here, then get the fuck out to your country" and that got him some kind of punishment. I guess this would be unthinkable in the US.

Corruption is everywhere, not just in big cities. The more rural the county in US, the greater the chance that "stuff like this only happened in 3rd world countries" is necessary to get anything done [permits especially]. Anecdotal personal experience - living ~30 years in rural Virginia versus ~15 years in a city in upstate NY.