MIAMI COUNTY — The Miami County Sheriff’s Office will be deploying extra deputies through March 18 for St. Patrick’s Day.

According to Sheriff Dave Duchak, St. Patrick’s Day usually sees an increase in alcohol consumption, which is why extra deputies will be on patrol. He said deputies will be focusing on removing impaired drivers, seat belt enforcement and other crash-causing violations.

Deputies will be targeting routes with high rates of impaired driving arrests and also routes with high rates of crashes during the extra enforcement, he said. No warnings will be issued during those time frames, Duchak said.

“Those who choose to drink are reminded to have a designated driver who is sober or risk being arrested,” Duchak said.

The extra traffic enforcement is made possible through a grant the sheriff’s office received late last year from the Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services. The grant funds all overtime and some fuel costs.