NATCHEZ — Adams County Sheriff Travis Patten said cracking down on drunk driving has taken Adams County off the annual list of top counties in the state with alcohol-related traffic fatalities.

Patten said he is proud of what law enforcement officers in the region have accomplished with grant money from the Mississippi Department of Public Safety earlier this year.

Patten said the statistics show a significant reduction in alcohol-related deaths and alcohol-related accidents with injuries.

In 2014 and part of 2105, Adams County recorded seven fatalities and 13 alcohol-related accidents with injuries, Patten said.

“Since we have put this stuff in place and we have been out there actively enforcing the law, we are down to zero alcohol-related fatalities,” Patten said. “We have had two fatalities, but they haven’t been alcohol-related, and we have only had three alcohol-related accidents with injuries.”

The statistics for 2016 are a great improvement from past years when Adams County made the list of counties with the highest alcohol-related deaths and accidents with injuries, Patten said.

“Since we brought these grants back, we have gone from being in the top 30 (counties) to not even being on the list,” Patten said. “That is drastic.”

In May, the county was awarded a special waiver from the state — used from monies left unused by other communities — to focus on drunk driving. The grant was used to pay for additional overtime used by deputies and police officers at checkpoints and for patrols specifically used to enforce drunk driving laws.

Since then the county has received three grants worth approximately $94,000 to pay for overtime used on DUI patrols, seat belt and child restraint checks and a full-time DUI patrol officer.

“The DUI officer is out there working and on patrol,” Patten said. “He has been handing out DUI (citations), and nobody is off limits.“We don’t care about your social status. We don’t care about your race. None of that matters.”

Grants have been approved for 2017, and the county will soon apply for the same grants for 2018, Patten said.

Patten said he gives the biggest credit for the success of the program to being visible and consistent.

“We are changing the way people are thinking and the way they are acting,” Patten said. “It is a win-win for our community.”

As the law enforcement liaison for nine counties in the area, Patten said Adams County is not the only law enforcement agency  cracking down on drunk driving. The region is committed to addressing the issue and enforcing the law, Patten said.

“People are beginning to realize that we are not playing in Adams County,” Patten said. “You come down here messing up, we are going to leave the light on for you.”