I've never heard of bribes or planted evidence. We never have riots and the beat downs and shooting are rarely filmed. None the less I had a friend crippled for filming cops, another cornered and shot dead, and a third chased on a motorcycle leading to his death.
They take their jobs seriously and will go out of the way to find a crime. Departments usually publish statistics so departments want to get as many citations as possible. Officers who promote 'community policing' are faced with an uphill battle and usually ousted.
Imagine general population is largely elders, families, and woodsy freedom / gun nuts. The "neighborhood watch" mentality is strong and there are still weed laws. Opioids and guns are still somewhat prevalent so cops are on edge. Small towns compound these issues. If a person with connections or a cop has a distaste for you look out.
This leads to stops for checkpoints, accusations of burglary, multiple citations the day a headlight goes out, nonexistant window tint stops, hanging parking pass stops, license plate frame stops, 'rolling stop' stops, suspicious vehicle stops, welcome to town stops, gvw/equipment stops, 5 mph over stops, etc which often result in unwarranted searches of your person, blood, car, home, etc.
But the real issue is when they make something up and drag you into court taking your money, car, wife, freedom, etc. This can be as simple as using the wrong diameter firewood in a permitted campfire (kindling without a permit), a verbal argument (assault), an innocent accident where an ambulance is called (domestic violence), knocking on a neighbors door for a flashlight (trespassing and burglary), a verbal discussion (assault), accidentally taking a wrong gps turn (trespassing and burglary), picking up litter (theft and littering), biking on the power lines (trespassing), firing a gun (criminal threatening), walking alone sober at the beach (possession via blood). And they will always tack on the ol' resisting arrest even when you follow their orders to the T. These are all things i've been threatened with or witnessed.
They make assumptions about things they never saw and which no one ever suggested happened and use the threat of many years in prison to pressure you into paying upwards of 50k on lawyers only to accept a plea for something you never did and no one ever accused you of.
In the two years I lived back home in in NH after college I was stopped over 20 times. Similar escalations have impacted multiple neighbors, friends, my mother, and my sister.
It's a huge issue but everyone is powerless when it happens to them and too afraid to speak out when they don't fully understand the circumstances others are experiencing.