Surveillance footage playing a major role in solving crimes in Louisville

LOUISVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) –  Louisville Police Chief Sean Holdiness started his law enforcement career 25 years ago.

He said back then, investigating an incident was very difficult due to the fact that security footage wasn’t as advanced as it is today.

Fast forward to now, cameras are pretty much everywhere, something he said has helped law enforcement solve some of the biggest crimes.

Chief Holdiness said security footage can pinpoint exactly what happened and the exact person that committed the crime.

“They might not be breaking in your store, or might not be robbing your business,” he said. “But videos from other stores, or businesses or homes, will help us corroborate whether or not that person or not drove by to go to the place they actually robbed.”

In one of the latest investigations, Louisville police are trying to find the people that robbed a Dollar General.

At first, officers were able to get pictures. Later, they found surveillance video of the hold-up. Now, Holdiness believes he’s closer to finding the three accused robbers.

“Because where the store is, and the quickness they went in and robbed the store and a customer, you know, even though our officers showed up less than three minutes after the call went out, but they were able to leave, then taking them pictures, and downloading that video, helps tremendously,” said Holdiness.

Holdiness sees how video has changed how officers do their jobs in his 25 years of law enforcement. He said it can protect the public and those who wear a badge.

“We want to be as transparent with the public and we want them to, if there’s a question that comes up about an arrest, or an accusation or whatever, we want to be able to, you know, articulate here it is. I mean you can’t get any better than video. If a complaint or accusation was made against an officer, basically it was your word verse theirs and we don’t want that.”

Chief Holdiness said video is great to help convict a criminal but law enforcement still needs help from people.

He encouraged anyone to come forward with information about the robbery at Dollar General.