My friend is definitely of the look-the-other-way variety.
As far as two types of code enforcers, maybe that is a rural or urban thing. I have only dealt with inspectors in urban areas, and the ones I'm familiar with all have a policy that they don't go around looking for violations. They only go out when someone reports something. And while they are out, even if they see if a violation across the street they ignore it unless someone complains. It's more of a community standard than a letter of the law approach, I guess.
Rural areas I have dealt with basically don't have land use codes that affect this sort of thing. They have building codes, but that's not what we're talking about in this thread.
I suppose I could imagine a rural area with complicated land use codes and inspectors who were bored enough to drive around looking for violations :-). It's not something I have encountered.