Spin the drum

does anybody know where we get the saying "To spin the drum" when police refer to searching someones house/home.

One reference says it is a British term but no origin was listed. "When the premises in which he/she lives are searched, London police call the procedure 'spinning drums.'." From "The Wordsworth Book of Euphemism" by Judith S. Neaman and Carole G. Silver (Wordsworth Editions, Hertfordshire, 1995).

The image I get is when the drums spin and a lottery number is selected.

SPIN (SOMEONE'S) DRUM - vb., British. "to make an official search of someone's house, in the jargon of the police force. 'Drum' is one's home, spin provides the play on words, referring to spinning of a drum in a fairground lottery. In 1990 spin has been heard as an expression synonymous with 'up yours,' and is accompanied by a one-fingered gesture." "The Dictionary of Contemporary Slang" by Tony Thorne (Pantheon Books, New York, 1990).

Rhyming slang "drum and bass" = place.

"Spinning the drum" is part of the procedure for choosing prizes in the "Tombola" and so the police use the phrase to mean in particular a search that may produce some unexpectedly incriminating evidence as well as what they actually expect to find.