Two recent crime cases in Natchez were solved quickly because of cameras.

The first case occurred while a homeowner was sleeping and was awakened by a video doorbell system alerting the homeowner to movement on the front porch. The owner was able to view video of someone taking items off of the front porch.

The video was available to police who were able to use it as evidence to make an arrest.

The other case helped officers identify a suspect in a case of stolen tools, and police said the arrest might not have happened if it weren’t for video cameras.

Originally, officers encountered a man dragging a trashcan along a street and discovered the trash can was full of commercial-grade power tools.

Officers at that point had no idea if the tools were stolen or how the man got them, other than that the man told them he had found them.

No victim, no crime.

Officers, however, had an idea that something didn’t add up in the case, confiscated the “found” tools and issued a press release asking anyone who was missing power tools to come forward. Sure enough, a victim came forward to claim the tools.

Once officers knew from where the tools were taken, they were able to go to nearby businesses who had cameras trained on the building and were able to obtain video of the suspect breaking into the building not once but on three separate occassions.

Natchez police say the arrest rate is up this year and they owe a lot of that to cameras — both cameras installed by the city and cameras installed by citizens and businesses.

Police also are encouraging residents and businesses to install cameras for their own protection.

As word gets out that cameras are watching and of the swift arrests, we are hopeful the crime rate will fall as well.

We will be watching the situation, and we are sure the cameras will be watching, too.