Vicksburg police and Warren County sheriff’s deputies will be out in force during the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, keeping an eye out for impaired drivers and other traffic violations.

Vicksburg police will be participating in the national “Drive Sober of Get Pulled Over” campaign, which places extra emphasis on impaired driving violations during the holiday season.

“We will have extra officers on patrol,” Vicksburg Police Chief Walter Armstrong said. “We won’t just be looking for drunk drivers, but any kind of violation.”

Unlike previous years, Armstrong said the department will put more emphasis on saturation —having more officers on the road — than using safety points to crack down on violations.

Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace said deputies’ work schedules have been reworked to have more deputies and his traffic division on the road during peak holiday times like Christmas and New Year’s Eve.

“We make an effort to look out for impaired drivers year round,” Pace said. “If you are caught driving drunk, you’re going to jail. Impaired drivers are responsible for hundreds of traffic deaths each year we make a special effort to make sure we can keep them off the road.”

Armstrong recalled two fatalities, in 2012 and 2014. Each he said were at the hands of an impaired driver.

“We want people to have a safe holiday,” Pace said. “And we will have the people out to see the laws are enforced.”