Douglas County could end up with a new X-ray machine to scan for weapons entering the Judicial & Law Enforcement Center.

Or a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer capable of sniffing out identities of dangerous vapors.

Or more than a dozen full-body suits to protect firefighters from exposure to chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or explosive agents.

With $86,000 to spend by the end of June, county officials are preparing to whittle their shopping lists for such items of equipment — all designed to brace the community for problems most people hope never arrive.

And when representatives from emergency services meet May 25 to hammer our their spending priorities, the elected officials who release the checks will be keeping a close eye on the requests.

“It’s a massive windfall that can become a massive scandal,” said Charles Jones, who as chairman of the Douglas County Commission has been leery of federal grants distributed under the guise of homeland security. “It’s hard to spend a flood of money wisely, and so that’s why I’m really determined to make sure that we spend that money in a way that’s appropriate, sensible and defensible.”

Jones and his fellow commissioners already have signed off on spending as much as $240,000 for a new mobile command vehicle. The purchase fulfilled the top priority identified by the Lawrence Police Department, Lawrence-Douglas County Fire & Medical and the county’s emergency communications and emergency management services.

But the purchase leaves $86,000 available to spend by the government’s June 30 deadline, and that means weighing priorities from various agencies wanting new equipment to go along with the shared command vehicle.

Next on law enforcement’s list: a $50,000 X-ray machine to prevent people from bringing weapons into the Judicial & Law Enforcement Center, 111 E. 11th St. Other requests include protective equipment for evidence collection ($25,000); a trailer for protective equipment ($10,000); and $10,000 to upgrade building security for the Baldwin Police Department.

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Fire & Medical officials’ wishes include a supply of new protective gear ($134,310); infrared detection equipment to identify unknown liquids and solids ($65,000); in-suit communicators ($10,000); portable lights ($20,000); chemical and radiological weapons detectors ($8,000); and a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer ($25,000).

The county’s communications officials are seeking a $25,000 system to connect departments that communicate on differing radio frequencies.

Emergency management officials envision setting up a virtual Emergency Operations Center on the Internet — a $50,000 project — and spending $5,000 to upgrade detection and monitoring equipment for radiological materials.

Paula Phillips, the county’s director of emergency management, said that representatives from all four sectors would meet May 25 to discuss priorities. County commissioners want a wish list to peruse before approving any purchases.