Call it a $60,000 dose of preventive medicine.

While emphasizing that Douglas County’s courtroom security system isn’t broken, Sheriff Rick Trapp is prescribing a remedy for what could happen.

He wants to order X-rays — actually, a high-tech X-ray machine — to scan bags and briefcases as they enter the Judicial & Law Enforcement Center.

The target: guns, knives or other weapons that could cause plenty of pain in the wrong hands at the right time.

“Obviously, since 9-11, it has caused us to think more about security, our day-to-day security,” Trapp said. “It’s not that we’re worried about al-Qaida coming in here and attacking Lawrence — not that it couldn’t happen, but this is just so people can come in and carry on their business and feel comfortable, and that the employees can work in a safe, secure environment.”

Trapp wants to post an X-ray security station — such as those used in airports — at the new public entrance at the county’s headquarters for justice. It would include a conveyor belt operated by a sheriff’s deputy.

The X-ray system is being considered because the center’s recent remodeling and expansion now limits public access to a single entryway, allowing officials more control of comings and goings.

The center at 111 E. 11th St. has six courtrooms, an evidence vault and offices for prosecutors, police and sheriff’s operations.

A $60,000 plan

“Our court security division is doing a very good job, but we always have to constantly re-examine what we’re doing and make sure we’re doing it in the most effective and cost-efficient manner,” Trapp said.

The sheriff is working with department officials, the U.S. Marshals Service and potential vendors on a plan that would cost the county about $60,000 — and include the purchase of a new metal detector. The X-ray system alone can cost anywhere from $35,000 to $100,000.

“The metal detector and the package or baggage X-ray — we can do those things effectively to make sure firearms don’t get into the building,” Trapp said.

Jere McElhaney, a Douglas County commissioner, is questioning the need for the project. While he acknowledges the heightened awareness of security in government buildings, he said he didn’t see the need to put more barriers in front of an increasingly frustrated public.

While most people understand the need for heightened security at airports, he said, they are likely to be less welcoming of delays on the way into the center.

Tough sale?

“I’m just not sold on it yet,” McElhaney said. “I’m more of a civil libertarian, and I think government needs to be less intrusive. Anytime we inconvenience the public — slow them down so it’s harder to transact their business, or search them or inconvenience them in any way — I’m not for it. I’m from the old school. I know things have changed, but I still have faith in people. …

“There’s a big difference between the airport and the courthouse, if you ask me.”

Trapp said the system would be the least intrusive available and provide a worthwhile trade-off when it comes to balancing convenience with security.

He’s working on a proposal for commissioners to consider.

The idea would be to get the equipment in place in time for next year’s hiring of two new sheriff’s deputies, as endorsed earlier this month by county commissioners in their $45.5 million operating budget for 2004.

The two deputies will form a “transportation unit,” responsible for getting prisoners to court and serving warrants and other documents to suspects. Their work will be expected to free up time for other deputies to bolster the court-security team, which now has five deputies to cover six courtrooms.

Trapp said he expected to have his proposal ready within the next couple of months.