depending on how you look, what your hair & skin colour is, you may be checked "randomly" while you're walking home or when you're crossing borders on a train. If your ID isn't valid, they won't just "not care about it"
that polite policeman passing you by with a "good day" would wake me up on the train to check harass me to see if i'm hiding who knows what in my testicles 🤬
Maybe it’s just personal experience
your experience doesn't reflect Europe, it is a commentary about what you see in the mirror