A national campaign against impaired/drunk driving begins today and continues through Labor Day on September 1st.  The Oxford Eagle explains that locally the Oxford Police Department will cooperate with the Mississippi Highway Patrol in setting up roadblocks and adding extra officers, as well as putting special emphasis on area bars and their compliance with local alcohol ordinances.  The following is excerpted from this Oxford Eagle story:

In an effort to crack down on drunk drivers, the Oxford Police Department will join the Mississippi Highway Patrol and other law enforcement agencies around the state in the upcoming Impaired Driving Enforcement campaign starting today and running through Labor Day.

“We have to participate in these programs to be eligible for grants,” said OPD Chief Mike Martin.

The campaign, titled, “Drunk driving. Over the limit. Under arrest,” is a national effort to prevent tragedies in Mississippi and across the United States.

“We will have driver’s safety check points, DUI checks and checks for seat belt usage,” Martin said. “We will also have extra personnel on during certain days to ramp up the enforcement.”

Impaired driving is a deadly crime with serious consequences.

A big focus for the campaign is to cut down on DUIs.

“We’ve been working hard on solving our alcohol problems,” Martin said.

While not part of the national campaign, Martin said his force will also be keeping an eye on bar owners in Oxford to make sure they are complying with local alcohol ordinances.

“We will be checking to make sure they are in compliance by not selling alcohol to minors and not selling or consuming alcohol after hours,” he said. “The bars bear a great deal of responsibility to curb any alcohol issues we may have.”

For more information see my previous posts on DUI's and DUI law in Mississippi here and my post on field sobriety tests here.

UPDATE — 18 August 2008:
Today the Memphis Commercial Appeal has this story focused on the DUI crackdown.  Just in case you didn't already know.  An excerpt:

The Mississippi Highway Patrol has launched a new campaign aimed directly at drunk or impaired drivers.

The campaign, which began Friday, will be joined by other local law enforcement agencies with similar campaigns in other states.

"We'll have extra officers out, particularly on weekends and at night through Sept. 1," said Sgt. Leslie White, public affairs officer for the MHP's Batesville District...

"Driving impaired is simply not worth the consequences," he said.

The MHP mantra is simple: "If you're over the limit, you are under arrest. No exceptions."

While the focus is on impaired driving, White said troopers also will be checking for drivers licenses, seatbelt usage, and the use of child restraint devices.

"We will have some roadblocks and additional patrols and we will be looking for speeders, those who fail to obey the 'move over law,' and anything else that can contribute to accidents on our roads and highways," he said.