Three federal grants will place more Mississippi Highway SafetyPatrol troopers on the roads this year, according to anofficial.

Staff Sgt. Rusty Boyd, public relations officer for MHSPDistrict 9, said the three grants will fund callbacks targetingintoxicated drivers, traffic violations and child restraint lawviolations. A callback is a federally-funded program that givestroopers the opportunity to work on their days off in special dutyassignments.

“We encounter everything this grant covers every day,” Boydsaid. “This will allow us to keep more troopers on the road on adaily basis.”

The first of the three grants is a Sustained AlcoholCountermeasure Enforcement Grant targeting DUI drivers. It will sixadditional troopers and one dispatcher to work an extra two days amonth.

The Police Traffic Service/Alcohol Countermeasure grant alsotargets DUI offenders, but also aims at occupant protection, childrestraint laws and other hazardous traffic violations, such asspeeding. It will allow five additional troopers and one dispatcherto work four additional days per month.

The third grant also covers occupant safety and child restraintlaw violations.

“It is unknown at this time how many additional personnel willbe utilized under this grant,” Boyd said. “I’m also unaware of thetotal funding for the programs. They only tell us how many in eachdistrict can be on each detail and how many days they canwork.”

The grants will add up to 416 additional man hours per month inDistrict 9 alone, he said.

The district can begin to utilize the grants today and fundingwill continue through July 31, 2007.