Carbon County is taking its first step to starting a specialty court aimed at helping veterans.

On Thursday, the county commissioners voted to approve a grant application through the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency requesting a one-year, match-free grant in the amount of $92,501.The money, if secured, would be used to establish a veterans court to divert eligible individuals from incarceration into appropriate treatment programs.Commissioners' Chairman Wayne Nothstein said that the application is a result of the judges' request to begin this type of specialty court.Specialty courts like veterans court or drug court target specific offenders rather than the whole population and work with treatment programs to provide offenders instead of sentencing them to prison.Veterans court is a voluntary program for veterans moving through the court system that gives them an alternative to incarceration and secure treatment for their drug and alcohol abuse or mental health disorder.Its main objective is to help veterans return to society.Nothstein said that the county has about 103 veterans in the court system and some may qualify for placement in treatment programs.The new court, if successfully started, will help identify those veterans suffering from a problem and get them the help they need, and as a result, keep them out of the prison, which in turn would help cut down on overcrowding.