Detectives Division

The Detectives Division is charged with pursuing leads with the overall objective of finding and arresting people responsible for committing crimes. Detectives investigate crimes ranging from homicides to burglaries. Once an investigation is initiated, criminal patterns are researched with the hopes of finding evidence directing a detective to a successful conclusion. Also in this division, crime data analysts incorporate their skills in gathering information and combining resources to assist detectives, other officers and law enforcement agencies in identifying criminals.

If you think you have information that will help Hattiesburg Detectives, call Metro Crime Stoppers at 601-582-7867 to receive cash for information that leads to a felony arrest.

The Detective Bureau can be reached by telephone at 601-545-4971.

Crime Scene Investigation (C.S.I.) Unit

The Hattiesburg Police Department has 5 Crime Scene technicians who are on call twenty- four hours a day seven days a week.  In previous years there were two crime scene technicians housed at the Hattiesburg Police Department. In 2008 the police department partnered with the University of Southern Mississippi and 6 other agencies and created the South Mississippi Bureau of Forensic Services. The crime scene bureau provides support to the Hattiesburg Police Department and other surrounding agencies with services in the form of crime scene processing, fingerprint identification, and forensic imaging. As a newly created unit, the goals and objectives of the South Mississippi Bureau of Forensic Services are the collection, preservation, packaging, transportation, and documentation of physical evidence left at the crime scene.

Crime Analysis

The Crime Analyst serves an important function of the department, tracking patterns and trends in criminal activity in our jurisdiction in order to provide the best and most efficient police responses.

Fabbiney Perry, the Crime Analyst, is responsible for collecting and analyzing information concerning crime patterns throughout the city. The crime analyst provides this information through weekly and monthly Compstat meetings which are used to help track and monitor the crimes. All the information that is provided is used to assist the operations personnel with the identification of specific and immediate crime problems.

To request crime statistics, please call 601.554.3616.

Domestic Violence Unit

Domestic violence has become a prevalent problem in today’s society. Not only is it considered a “relationship problem”, but in actuality, domestic violence is a crime. Each year, more than three million women and children, collectively, fall victim to domestic violence and that is why the Hattiesburg Police Department has implemented a Domestic Violence Unit.

This unit is under the leadership of Lt. LaTosha Myers-Mitchell and consists of a group of detectives who are highly trained and well-educated in areas involving intimate relationship violence. Additionally, not only does this unit work directly with the department’s victim advocates in ensuring that victims are safe from harm, but it also conducts follow-up interviews with victims, acquires supplementary evidence (photographs, medical reports, etc.), communicates with judges in preparing arrest warrants and indemnifies that all reported cases are completed before being forwarded for prosecution to the county’s district attorney's office.

For additional information concerning the HPD Domestic Violence Unit, please call 601-545-4974.

Evidence

Whenever a crime occurs, it is very essential to preserve as much evidence as possible! The HPD Evidence Room is managed by Sgt. Richard Hoerner and Officer Brad Shafer and this room is where all evidence that is collected by officers is stored until its final disposition.  Furthermore, the evidence locker is maintained by an evidence technician. 

Homeland Security

Mr. Don McCory serves as the Coordinator for the Mississippi Office of Homeland Security (MOHS) Task Force III (TF III). Contracted by the City of Hattiesburg, his office is located inside the Hattiesburg Police Department. MOHS has the state divided into three sections and ours, Task Force III, covers all counties south of Highway 84 to the Gulf Coast.

The duties of Mr. McCory include: coordinating the recruiting of local responders from police and fire departments and Emergency Management Agencies; coordinating the training opportunities for these responders and their reimbursement fees, when applicable; coordinating the credentialing and credentialing updates for all Homeland Security responders in Task Force III; assisting other MOHS staffers in the development of MOHS exercises, policies, and procedures; assisting all Task Force agencies with their Bi-Annual Strategic Implementation Report, which is a financial report of Homeland Security funds and expenditures and assisting all Task Force agencies with their yearly National Incident Management System (NIMS) reporting. 

Additionally, Mr. McCory not only works with other MOHS staffers to inventory all equipment purchased with MOHS funds for local agencies, but he also works closely with the Task Force III leader, Robert Pickering of the Hattiesburg Fire Department and the three Regional Response Team leaders on all Homeland Security issues.

Mr. Don McCory