A spike in one statistic has the police chiefs on both sides of the river reminding residents that it takes a community to curb crime.

Burglaries were way up in both Mankato and North Mankato in 2011. The numbers were pushed up by a string of summer and fall burglaries where unlocked houses, apartments and garages were targeted.

“Our burglaries were the highest in six years,” said Todd Miller, Mankato director of public safety. “There are a lot of things to consider, including the economy and people getting in and out of prison. Like narcotics, burglary activity can often be tracked to people getting out of jail or prison.”

Miller said the economy is likely playing a larger role than usual, however, because the burglaries are up almost everywhere in Minnesota. Several communities and rural areas in Blue Earth, Nicollet and Brown counties also saw strings of burglaries last year.

“One burglar or burglary group can move in and create big statistics,” Miller said. “There were several of those here last year, as well as in North Mankato and out in the counties. We would see several in one area in one night.”

Another factor is the high price of scrap metal, Miller added. The businesses that buy scrap metal don’t have the theft controls that are in place with pawn shops, so people are able to easily sell stolen metals without identifying themselves. He and other law enforcement leaders in the region are attempting to change that.

One idea is to require people to leave their names and addresses when they sell scrap metal, then having their payments mailed to them.

Law enforcement officers also have responded by getting the word out to residents that burglary tends to be a crime of opportunity. A house, apartment, garage or vehicle is far less likely to be broken into if it is locked.

Most of the valuable items stolen in North Mankato last year were taken from unlocked buildings and vehicles, said North Mankato Police Chief Chris Boyer.

“What we’ve tried to do is get the message out to lock cars and lock doors,” he said. “We’re also telling people to call us immediately if they see anything suspicious.”

It’s not uncommon, after a string of burglaries is reported, to have victims and neighbors mention hearing loud noises or seeing unknown teens wandering through a neighborhood the night before. If those incidents are reported when they happen, the burglars can be caught or at least spooked into calling it quits for the night, Boyer said.

There were much smaller increases in other serious crimes in Mankato last year when compared to 2010. Miller pointed out, however, that the crime statistics for 2010 were the lowest they had been in about a decade.

“During this whole time, you also have to remember the community was growing,” Miller said.

A vast majority of violent crimes such as serious assaults, rapes and other sex crimes involve a perpetrator and victim who know each other, Miller said. Rapes, robberies and assaults all dropped when compared to statistics from five years ago.

Officers in Mankato are noticing people are becoming less cooperative when questioned about a crime or arrested. Miller said his officers are having to use their Taser devices more often. There also has been a spike in lost officer hours due to work-related injuries, he added.

North Mankato isn’t seeing that trend, Boyer said. Officer injuries are still a rarity in that city.

“We deal with a slightly different crowd,” he said. “We don’t have that downtown bar crowd.

“I’m pretty sure we only deployed a Taser once last year.”