Miss. Code Ann. § 63-3-321

Any person who wilfully destroys, knocks down, removes, defaces, or alters any letters or figures on a detour or warning sign set upon a highway or road of this state, or who wilfully knocks down, removes, rearranges, destroys, defaces, or alters any letter or figures on a barricade or fence erected on any highway or road of this state, or who drives around or through any barricade or fence on any officially closed highway or road of this state, or who drives around such detour sign or barricade or fence, or who wilfully ignores or disregards a warning sign before such road has been officially opened to the public traffic by the Mississippi State Highway Department, or in appropriate cases by the county or municipal officer responsible for constructing or maintaining such roads, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. This shall have no application to peace officers in the performance of their duties, nor to employees of the Mississippi State Highway Department, nor to employees of the contractor, nor to employees of the federal authorities when engaged in inspection of surveys, repairs, maintenance, or construction on or alongside such highways, within the right-of-way, nor to individuals domiciled or making their livelihood within the affected areas, nor to any person or group of persons who shall be authorized by the highway director, or appropriate county or municipal officer.