COEUR d’ALENE — A pair of arrests overnight are prompting Coeur d’Alene Police to urge residents to stay proactive in protecting neighborhoods.

Daniel Bagdanovich and Tyler Rothermel, both of Spokane, were arrested in the early-morning hours Wednesday on Mountain Vista Drive. Both were booked on charges of attempted auto burglary after allegedly confessing they searched nearby vehicles for money.

Capt. Dave Hagar of the Coeur d’Alene Police Department said Bagdanovich and Rothermel admitted at the scene to looking for money in nearby cars because a vehicle they were occupying had run out of gas.

Hagar emphasized that the incident, reported to police by an anonymous resident, demonstrates a successful partnership between law enforcement and citizens.

“We were able to make an arrest because someone in the neighborhood was observant,” Hagar said. “Someone was paying attention and watching out for their neighbors. I can’t stress this enough: It takes both of us. It takes law enforcement, and it takes people. It takes both of us to make this work.”

Hagar, who has spent 27 years in law enforcement, said Coeur d’Alene has often given him a glimpse of what he calls a necessary act to community policing.

“In all my years, I’ve never seen a community as willing to look out for one another as I have in Coeur d’Alene,” he said. “We have neighbors keeping watch over one another. We’ve had family members turn in their own family. We have people organizing and communicating with one another, willing to report to us when they see something suspicious. We have a very proactive community, and you could see that last night on Mountain Vista Drive.”

The 447 burglaries reported in Kootenai County last year mark a sharp decline compared to 2017, according to statistics from the Idaho State Police, but month-to-month analysis consistently demonstrates a rise in burglaries as each year winds to a close.

In other words, the holidays tend to crank up burglaries, in part because the opportunities to break into cars will be giftwrapped for them.

“Around this time of year, we usually see burglaries tick up a bit,” Hagar said. “What matters is, depending on the time of year, when auto break-ins happen, 60 percent to 80 percent of them happen to unlocked vehicles. That’s what people need to understand: Burlgars usually don’t use force. They don’t want to make noise. They don’t typically shatter windows.”

It’s that reluctance to cause a commotion, he said, that provides car owners with the perfect remedy.

“Lock it or lose it,” Hagar emphasized. “It’s that simple.”