Portland DA Mike Schmidt says increase in violent crime is not his fault, gives his overall performance an ‘A’

During an interview with the Willamette Weekly, Mike Schmidt refused to take personal responsibility for his policies and instead placed blame on police officers and a lack of defense attorneys. Despite the city's increase in homicides, open-air drug use and its lack of accountability for criminals, Schmidt asserted that he has "no" regrets since taking office.

Reporter: "What grade would you give yourself so far?"

Schmidt: "I grade myself, quite frankly, very highly. I'd say 'A.' This has been the toughest three years in the history of Multnomah County to be the district attorney. A pandemic, civil rights, gun violence, fentanyl hitting our streets, defense attorney crisis, a state hospital that's overflowing. There have just never been more challenges. And yet, I ran to do something, which was to try to change the way that our system thinks about incarceration and disparity in the system, and to build trust in terms of fixing wrongful convictions. And we’ve been doing all of those things."

When asked about his notorious catch-and-release policies which garnered nationwide attention during the 2020 Antifa/BLM riots following the death of George Floyd, which led to extreme civil unrest in Portland, Schmidt said he chose not to prosecute rioters stating that they were not committing harm. Despite well-documented violent attacks on police officers and civilians, Schmidt rejected over 540 riot-related cases in 2020.

Reporter: "Shortly after you took office, you announced that you weren’t going to prosecute hundreds of people arrested during the George Floyd protests. This is often brought up as evidence that you’re soft on crime, even though similar decisions were made by prosecutors across the country. So, do you have any regrets about dropping those charges—or making such a big deal about doing it?"

Schmidt: "When I came into office, we had over 500 cases on my desk. The vast majority of these cases were arrests for people who were told to leave and they didn't. So I said, look, we're going to focus our resources on the people who are committing harm, but we're not going to prosecute people for being there. Nationally, that pretty much was the approach of most major cities."

"I think that is part of what has set me off on the wrong foot with a lot of law enforcement. We still have the scars of 2020 in our community in Portland, and I think the police had a really awful year. Some of the things that people said to them as they were doing their jobs to protect the community were just not acceptable. And I think the community had a really hard year. We’ve seen after-action report after after-action report coming out talking about the use of force and the harm and damage it did to our community. Those scars are still very, very deep," Schmidt said.

The progressive district attorney, who is running for reelection, explained that his performance cannot be judged by Portland's increase in crime, nor did he take responsibility for it. Violent crime has tripled in Portland since 2019 and nearly 60 percent of Multnomah County residents voted in a poll that they are not happy with Schmidt's performance as District Attorney.

Reporter: "Is it fair to use crime rates as a gauge of how well you are doing? You just said that the crime rate is not a fair way to judge your performance."

Schmidt: "What the district attorney can do to try to alter the trajectory of crime rates is: not a lot. I agree with that. But as long as I'm going to get blamed for the crime rates going up, I'd like to advertise that the crime rates are going down."

While reported crime has decreased within the last few months, the county's overall crime rate has drastically increased since Schmidt assumed office, according to the outlet. Critics say that the reported decrease is a result of residents not reporting criminal incidents due to a lack of accountability and poor police response due to staffing crises in law enforcement agencies across the county amid the defund the police movement.

When asked why there has been a decrease in prosecutions, Schmidt claimed it's the result of police officers "being spread thin" which resulted in a lack of referrals. Despite acknowledging this, Schmidt refused to take responsibility that it's the result of his own policies and instead blamed police while boasting that felony prosecutions have increased, which isn't necessarily accurate.

Reporter: "So why are you getting fewer cases?"

Schmidt: "We're seeing dramatically fewer cases come from the Portland police. This is particularly true of misdemeanors. The traffic unit was disbanded, and we saw a massive decrease in traffic crimes being referred to our agency."

"Another area we saw a big drop is thefts. I asked the chief what’s going on here? It’s a mixed bag of reasons. Police have been stretched thin dealing with violent crimes. And there’s been a shift in policy across the country of retailers, especially big-box stores, telling their employees not to stop shoplifters and put themselves in harm’s way. The other big change comes from possession of controlled substances, which is no longer a misdemeanor."

Reporter: "It seems that a lot of people are committing crimes in Portland while awaiting trial for crimes they already committed. What are you doing about it?"

Schmidt: "It’s frustrating to see somebody arrested for a crime who has failed to appear [in court] multiple times previously. A lot of it has to do with our lack of defense attorneys. When a person is in custody and there isn’t a defense attorney available, the judge is letting them out."

Reporter: "Do you believe more people should be sitting in jail awaiting trial in Multnomah County?"

Schmidt: "Yes."

Reporter: "But aren’t you part of the problem? You campaigned on eliminating cash bail—and you helped push recent legislation that limited its use. Do you have any regrets about that?"

Schmidt: "No. How much money you have should not dictate whether or not you are released. We should be looking at risk."

Since 2020, Portland residents and businesses have fled the city of Roses due to the increase in violent crime, and each month, more announce that they are out the door.