The deadline for municipalities to apply for Local Share Account grant money from Mount Airy Casino’s annual gaming revenue is fast approaching and Jim Thorpe police are calling an audible on their request for the upcoming year.

According to Mayor Michael Sofranko, the department had hoped to apply for money toward Automatic License Plate Recognition cameras and software that would scan license plates and store information in a database.

It appears the information needed for the application, however, will not come in time to meet the end of September deadline.

“We were working with PPL to get costs and things like that because the cameras would be fixed to poles, and while we were getting help, things weren’t happening for us as quickly as we needed them to,” Sofranko said.

In place of the cameras, the department plans to apply for funding for two additional electronic messaging signs and five radar signs that tell motorists their speed.

“Two more electronic message signs would bring our total to four,” Police Chief Joe Schatz said. “That would mean we would have all four corners of the borough covered and we wouldn’t have to ask PennDOT for those when we have big events.”

The five radar signs would not only remind drivers of their speed, but also give the police department critical data it could use in determining how to best use its manpower.

“There is a data component that will count cars, but also give us a violation rate, so that we can determine where we need to sit and patrol more frequently,” Schatz said. “We can’t be everywhere 24/7, so this is really going to be an incredible asset for our statistics.”

Schatz said the signs would likely be primarily located on North Street, Center Avenue and Broadway.