That's because the voters, the people who should actually have the right to say how they want their government to run, have either voted for legislators who write laws that do not punish repeat offenders, or have voted for prosecutors who use their discretion, or have voted for judges who use their discretion.
That is the right of the voters. The police (and certainly not the police unions!) do not have any power in a republican society to override that.
It is certainly true that the way that Seattle police (and SF police, and NYC police, and NJ police, and...) want to maintain public order is different from the way that the voters want to maintain public order. But that is the very problem at hand - as the comment above says: 'current police culture basically says "Let me do my job however I want, without consequences, or I just won't do my job"'.
Police overpolicing because they don't want to do their jobs as they're told is not very different from police underpolicing because they don't want to do their jobs as they're told.
That is the right of the voters. The police (and certainly not the police unions!) do not have any power in a republican society to override that.
It is certainly true that the way that Seattle police (and SF police, and NYC police, and NJ police, and...) want to maintain public order is different from the way that the voters want to maintain public order. But that is the very problem at hand - as the comment above says: 'current police culture basically says "Let me do my job however I want, without consequences, or I just won't do my job"'.
Police overpolicing because they don't want to do their jobs as they're told is not very different from police underpolicing because they don't want to do their jobs as they're told.