Kevin Dahlgren chased the suspected thief for about a mile after witnessing a smash and grab from an SUV in broad daylight, his camera rolling. But when he called 911, Dahlgren said the operator told him police would not pursue the suspect because Dahlgren was not the victim.

"'Of course I'm not the victim, but I was literally standing there,'" Dahlgren, an addiction counselor who chronicles Portland's homeless crisis on Twitter, recalled telling the dispatcher last summer. "'Why do you think the criminals are out there doing this? Because they know even if a person calls the police, the police aren't going to show.'"

CRIME TURNED PORTLAND INTO A ‘HOLLOWED OUT SHELL.’ ITS NEIGHBORS ARE TRYING TO KEEP IT FROM HAPPENING TO THEM

Crime increased in Portland for the third year in a row in 2022, according to police data, and district attorneys in neighboring counties say lack of prosecution is part of the problem — one that could spill into the rest of the state.

"That difference in prosecutions does result in some public safety challenges because crime doesn't just limit itself to one particular county based on geography," said Washington County District Attorney Kevin Barton, who oversees the second-largest county in the Portland area. "Criminals move from county to county. So if your neighbor's not taking care of business, it will impact your home."

Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt prosecuted half of all misdemeanor theft cases referred to his office last year, according to data provided by a spokesperson. At the same time, Portland business owners complained of repeated attacks by thieves and vandals. Property crime reports increased 11% compared to 2021, according to Portland Police Bureau data.

WALMART TO SHUTTER PORTLAND LOCATIONS JUST MONTHS AFTER CEO’S WARNINGS ON CRIME

Portland's neighboring Washington and Clackamas counties filed charges in 91% and 84% of misdemeanor theft cases, respectively, according to their district attorneys. In Washington County, Barton said about 90% of those charges result in convictions. 

Alleged criminals are aware of the discrepancy.

"If it was in Multnomah County, like, you would have got released already," a caller was recorded telling an inmate in Washington County late last year.

The inmate responded, "I know, I know. It's because it's Washington County."

Kristin Olson, a trial attorney and native Portlander, said criminals feel like "it's a free-for-all" in her city.

"We can't just not prosecute misdemeanor crimes because that creates societal decay, and it creates an overall sense of lawlessness," Olson said. "If we're letting these people go left and right because we don't believe in bail and we don't believe in incarcerating them, then they know they can commit these crimes with impunity. And we don't feel safe." 

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Schmidt, whose campaign received contributions from groups linked to liberal billionaire George Soros, took office during the height of Portland’s 2020 protests. He soon announced a policy presumptively declining to prosecute the most common riot-related charges.

The office filed charges in just 47% of all cases it received in 2020. That rate has been steadily increasing since then, hitting 60% in 2022. But at the same time, police have sent 43.5% fewer cases to Schmidt than they did in 2019, according to data from the district attorney’s office.

"Their hands are tied because of politics," Dahlgren said of local police. "If a cop knows it's not going to be prosecuted, why are they going to waste their time on two hours of paperwork and drive him down just to get released an hour later?"

Schmidt declined an interview request from Fox News.

Barton said the justice system needs to "have a balance where we let the police do their job and we incentivize them to arrest people by prosecuting the people they arrest."

In 2021, Washington County filed more criminal cases than Multnomah County, according to Oregon Judicial Department data. Clackamas County, which has roughly half the population, filed more misdemeanor charges than Multnomah County.

Prosecution is "critical" to deterring future crime and increasing livability, Clackamas County District attorney John Wentworth told Fox News.

"If there isn't some accountability, if there isn't some action that's taken to actually deal with the trauma that's occurred, nothing gets better," Wentworth said.

Barton doesn't embrace a tough-on-crime label, though, instead saying he likes to have an array of public safety tools available.

"We want to use the hammer when it's the right tool to use, but we have other tools as well," he said. "Things like our drug court or our veterans treatment court or mental health court, where we can use a different tool other than a hammer to try and accomplish that same result of holding people accountable, promoting rehabilitation and keeping the victims and public safe."

A leaked internal Biden administration memo — which showed officials prioritizing climate change over energy security — could force the White House to pull the plug on a key nominee.

In the Nov. 25 memo, former Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Director Amanda Lefton recommended that the Department of the Interior (DOI) charge energy companies a royalty rate of 18.75%, the highest allowable rate under the law, for a 958,202-acre offshore oil and gas lease sale in Alaska. Lefton acknowledged in the recommendation that charging a lower rate of 16.67% would likely "offer greater energy security," but wouldn't properly account for climate change.

"While a 16 ⅔ percent royalty may be more likely to facilitate expeditious and orderly development of OCS resources and potentially offer greater energy security to residents of the State of Alaska, a reasonable balancing of the environmental and economic factors for the American public favors the maximum 18 ¾ percent royalty for Cook Inlet leases," Lefton wrote in the memo.

The memo was addressed to DOI Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Laura Daniel-Davis who ultimately signed off on the 18.75% rate recommendation one day later in a public record of decision without mentioning the energy security analysis of lower royalty rates. On Dec. 30, the DOI held the lease sale, garnering a single bid worth $63,983 for a 2,304-acre tract.

REPUBLICANS UNVEIL EFFORT TO BOOST ENERGY PRODUCTION, FAST-TRACK PERMITTING PROCESS

But Daniel-Davis' involvement in prioritizing the Biden administration's environmental goals over "greater energy security" could threaten her pending nomination to be the DOI's assistant secretary for land and minerals management, a powerful position that would give her oversight of key oil and gas decisions. Her nomination, which has already been delayed for two years, remains before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

On Friday, after the memo was leaked, committee Chairman Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., indicated he may not support Daniel-Davis moving forward in a potential fatal blow to her nomination.

BIDEN ADMIN OFFICIAL HIT WITH ETHICS COMPLAINT FOR ROLE IN FEDERAL OIL LEASING PAUSE

"The contents of this memo speak volumes — if this is what this Administration truly believes and is how they are going to make decisions, it is unacceptable," Manchin said in a statement on Friday. "It’s a clear and intentional threat to energy security and the all-of-the above energy policy Congress has consistently reinforced."

"I will not support anyone who agrees with this type of misguided reasoning."

President Biden first nominated Daniel-Davis for the position in June 2021. Since then, she has appeared in two confirmation hearings before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, but has failed two votes for her nomination to be passed to a floor vote. The White House announced on Jan. 23 that it would again send the nomination back to the Senate.

Republicans on the committee, meanwhile, have doubled down on their opposition to Daniel-Davis in the wake of the memo leaked last week.

"Under Laura Daniel-Davis’ leadership, [DOI] has worked overtime to halt American oil & natural gas development on federal lands," Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., the ranking member of the panel, tweeted on Friday. "All of [Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee GOP] voted against her confirmation last Congress. Her nomination should be withdrawn immediately."

Fellow Republican committee members Sens. James Risch of Idaho and Steve Daines of Montana agreed that the memo was the latest reason that the nomination should be pulled.

"I opposed the nomination of Laura Daniel-Davis in 2021 and 2022. If her nomination is not withdrawn — as it absolutely should be — I will oppose it again in 2023," Risch told Fox News Digital. "This Department of Interior report confirms my existing concerns about her flawed policy beliefs and further disqualifies Daniel-Davis from serving in this important role."

BIDEN ADMIN GIVES TOP ENERGY POST TO CLIMATE ACTIVIST WHO FAILED SENATE CONFIRMATION OVER ETHICS CONCERNS

"Laura Daniel-Davis’ nomination should have been pulled over a year ago when she first failed to pass committee," Daines added in a statement to Fox News Digital. "The latest attack on oil and gas is no surprise. The Biden administration, his out of touch nominees and Senate Democrats have long put the cult of climate change ahead of energy security and local communities."

Meanwhile, Barrasso and the other Republican members of the committee penned a letter, obtained by Fox News Digital, to Daniel-Davis on Feb. 28, demanding she respond to a series of previously-asked questions that they said she has failed to answer. They also criticized her for working with Democrats to bypass a third confirmation hearing.

In a separate letter Monday, Barrasso questioned Daniel-Davis about her statement during a 2021 confirmation hearing that the Biden administration had approved more than 9,000 fossil fuel drilling permits that have been unused by industry. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) recently acknowledged that the figure, also repeated by Biden and high-ranking White House officials, was inaccurate.

"I have grave concerns about the discrepancy in BLM data, as this appears to be far from just an honest mistake," Barrasso wrote. "You have the responsibility to ensure that statistics made available to the public, such as this permitting data, are complete and accurate. You have failed in both regards, and the American public has been misled as a result."

And, in September, the watchdog group Protect the Public’s Trust filed an ethics complaint against Daniel-Davis, accusing her of violating conflict of interest laws related to the DOI's move in 2021 to an oil and gas leasing pause in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. The group said her previous position at an environmental group had potentially influenced her actions.

The DOI declined to comment and the White House didn't respond to a request for comment.