St. George Police highlight importance of video surveillance after burglaries

ST. GEORGE, Utah — The St. George Police Department posted to social media Wednesday night about a recent arrest in relation to a string of burglaries. The SGPD used the case to highlight the usefulness of video surveillance in investigating a case.

In a Facebook post, the SGPD said officers first responded to a burglary at the Dixie Gun and Fish in St. George, Utah on March 3. Officers took evidence and began investigating the case with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, known as the ATF.

As the investigation into the Dixie Gun and Fish burglary continued, the SGPD said it responded to eight other reports of business burglaries.

The eight burglaries happened between May 27 and June 6 at restaurants throughout St. George. Some restaurants were burglarized more than once, the SGPD said. 

For the restaurant burglaries, investigators used video evidence to help create a profile of the suspect.

SGPD detectives and ATF agents investigating the Dixie Gun and Fish burglary then identified Brett Combs of Las Vegas, NV as a suspect in the case.

The SGPD said that detectives noticed physical similarities between Combs and the suspect in the restaurant burglaries. Because of the similarities, detectives identified Combs as the suspect in the string of restaurant burglaries.

The SGPD and ATF apprehended Combs in Las Vegas and took him into custody. According to the SGPD, investigators found “multiple items of evidence linking Brett to the serial restaurant burglaries.”

The SGPD said charges will be filed through the county attorney’s office.

In its Facebook post about the case, the SGPD said “Having images and videos of the crimes allowed detectives to link multiple cases to this suspect and recover evidence critical to the case.”

The police department also recommended that business owners and non-business owners alike invest in a surveillance system for security. 

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