Higher populations of renters and poor people, along with two motels whose guests pay in cash, were among the factors linked to increased crime in Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center in recent years.

"Crime is not just a police issue. It is a community issue," acting Brooklyn Park Police Chief Greg Roehl told the 107 educators, clergy members, police chiefs, criminal justice workers and others gathered Monday at the Edinburgh USA Golf Course in Brooklyn Park.

The meeting to discuss crime and potential solutions was led by Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum and a national authority on crime. The two suburbs' crime rates have increased along with those in other U.S. cities, Wexler said, but he noted that violent crime has dropped recently in Minneapolis, which borders Brooklyn Center to the south.

Wexler, who has worked with Minneapolis police to reduce violent crime, said the city's success has likely pushed more crime to the suburbs. Wexler's research showed that Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center have several traits that help explain crime rates higher than the county average: their rates of rental units and poverty; strip malls and major highways; two Brooklyn Center motels, Super 8 and Motel 6, that accept cash payments without requiring IDs; and relatively large populations of 15- to 20-year-olds.

Students who do poorly or drop out of school are more likely to commit crimes and often live in single-parent families that frequently move during school years, causing such children to fall farther behind.

Peg Vickerman, principal of Northview Junior High in Brooklyn Center, said more than 30 percent of students who begin the year at her school are gone by year's end and replaced by students whose families move into the area.

Participants came up with several ideas on how to reduce crime. Several pastors offered to provide volunteers or activities for students after school. The Rev. Steve Larson, pastor of Redeemer Covenant Church, offered his church gym for youth activities.

Brooklyn Center Schools Superintendent Keith Lester said he would contact police to talk about increasing after-school activities.

And Vickerman said she would contact Larson about using his gym.

Hennepin County and Minneapolis had top law enforcement leaders at the conference. They and their counterparts from the two suburbs have worked on crime task forces but agreed to talk about closer cooperation, including having the suburbs make use of a new juvenile drop-off center opening in January in Minneapolis.

Jim Adams • 612-673-7658