St. Patrick's Day is a busy night for Michiana police officers.

Several checkpoints were set up throughout the night and several more officers were out.

Lt. Tim Williams used a different tactic this year. He provided free bracelets to clubs and bars to distribute to designated drivers.

"It says Hoo-Sier designated driver, so what we want you to do is to have a designated driver," explained Williams. "You can't really rely on the luck of the Irish to get you home safely that designated driver will do that."

Even so, Williams and the hundreds of other officers on the road, know not everyone will stay safe.

"The average drunk driver commits that offense eighty times a year so if you do the math and you take the number of drivers in St Joe county, you have a very high chance of coming in contact with a drunk driver on the roads," said Williams.

It's a yearly game of cat and mouse between officers and drunk drivers, but it can have a deadly outcome.

Mishawaka officers know all too well the sadness that it can bring.

"It's not just officer Szuba, that's definitely going to be on our minds, but I'm also going to think about all the families that lost loved ones to drunk drivers that I had to help investigate those crashes. So it's not just one person, it's all the ones that we lost that we'll be thinking about when we go out there," said Williams.

At least officers will know they have a special guardian angel looking out for them.

Last year eight officers busted 14 people for DUI on St Patrick's Day and 35 during the weekend in Mishawaka.

This year there are 15 Mishawaka officers.

The extra patrols will continue until the 21st to coincide with college basketball parties.