Gainesville Police Officers hid in the bushes Thursday night to catch criminals before they commit a crime.

Captain Bart Knowles and other officers called it preventative patrolling, and they caught three men before the act Thursday. 49-year-old Lawrence Limbaugh, 20-year-old Tobaris Fields and 28-year-old Christopher Knight were charged with crimes like loitering and prowling. Even though there aren't severe penalties for the charges, Knowles said it's worth catching it early by placing officers in areas where a lot of burglaries have been occurring. Then, police do the best they can to identify suspicious behavior activities.

“There's no doubt in my mind that these two individuals were about to commit a crime, more specifically, probably a burglary of some sort,” Knowles said.