Halloween is still a few days away but the work for area police departments has already begun.
Starting on Friday, many departments across the seven cities will begin their patrols making sure everyone is following the rules of the road and rules of the holiday.
"Halloween is a very big holiday for adults and that means parties and parties mean alcohol and alcohol means possible drunk drivers," explained Detective Misty Holley with Portsmouth Police.
While police are always on the lookout for drunk drivers, what makes their Halloween patrols even more important is the number of people including little ones out on the street getting into the holiday spirit.
"We want to make sure that they are safe we are safe and the community is safe," said Holley.
In addition to DUI patrols, police are also looking to make sure no one is breaking curfew while trick or treating, since the fun is limited to a few hours in most cities.
"In Portsmouth, our tick or treating starts on Monday starts at 5:30 p.m. and goes until 8 p.m.," says Holley. "Sometimes people are out until 8:30, but 830 is definitely the max cut off."
Police will also be out making sure no one's costume violates the state's law.
"Wearing a mask in public is a felony it’s a class six felony so that does have jail time as well as it staying on your record and you could go to jail."
According to police if you are under the age of 16 you can wear a mask in public. However, if you are older than 16, you can't wear a mask in public, but that doesn't mean you can't wear it at all. Police say once you get to your Halloween destination you are free to wear your mask.
