Thief Escapes With Substation’s Police Scanner
(From South Side Voice, March 12, 1998): An address listed for Kelvin W. Veasie in last week’s South Side Voice public safety story was incorrect. A Spokane police press release listed the wrong address.
COPS Southeast volunteers walked into an unusually quiet office last Wednesday.
The constant hum of police-scanner activity was missing from the substation on 29th Avenue.
The South Side center that works to prevent crime became a victim of it itself last week when someone took the scanner from its normal perch inside a cabinet, said substation president Bob Hooper.
Police have no suspects but believe it happened sometime between 8 p.m. Feb. 24 and 10 a.m. the following day.
The substation shares a building and a front entrance with a law office. Hooper said an employee waiting for a client left the front door open for part of Tuesday night.
“It’s sad to rip off an outfit that’s trying to help the community,” Hooper said. “We’ve been there four years, and this is the first time anything like this has happened.”
Hooper said volunteers use the scanner to listen for things happening in the community. If they hear talk on the scanner of a suspicious vehicle in the area, for example, they can then keep an eye out for it.
The substation’s neighbor, Silver Lanes Bowling, has offered to foot the bill to replace the scanner.
“They’ve been very, very good to us,” said Hooper. “They’re our backers and have been from day one.”
Silver Lanes owner Dave Montecucco explained the support.
“The police substation has really helped us over the years,” he said.
“They help out with our junior bowling league. The least we can do is offer to help them out.”
The scanner is valued at $100. Nothing else was reported missing from the substation.
Student arrested on drug charge
A Lewis and Clark High School student was arrested last week after he admitted selling drugs near the school.
A 16-year-old boy was taken into custody Thursday after Spokane police received a tip he was holding marijuana and a weapon, police spokesman Dick Cottam said.
Police notified a District 81 security officer, who found 13 rolled marijuana joints and a knife in the student’s possession.
The student told the officer he had been selling individual marijuana cigarettes near the school during lunch. He was arrested on suspicion of possession and distribution of a controlled substance.
Cocaine possession alleged
A South Hill man arrested this week for obstruction of an officer was later booked into jail for carrying drugs and drug paraphernalia.
A Spokane officer saw a man and woman walking down the middle of Chandler Street near Third Avenue about 1:30 a.m. Monday. The couple started walking east on Third in the traffic lanes.
The officer stopped to question them, and the man immediately put his hands in his jacket pockets, spokesman Dick Cottam said.
The officer asked the man to show his hands, but he refused. The officer called for police backup, then arrested the man for obstruction.
The man was identified as Kelvin W. Veasie, 36, 1018 E. 18th.
The suspect was found to be carrying a baggie of what tested positive for crack cocaine, along with a quantity of black tar heroin, Cottam said. Officers also found a glass crack pipe, a lighter and brass wool used in crack pipes in his jacket pockets, he said.
Veasie was booked into jail on two counts of possession of a controlled substance. The woman was not detained.
Possible scam surfaces in Cheney
Spokane County Sheriff’s detectives are warning Cheney residents of a potential scam.
A complainant told detectives of receiving a letter from a man claiming to be a Nigerian government official. In the letter, the man asked the complainant to provide a bank account number. The man explained he needed a valid number to move funds from Nigeria to the United States.
Detective Larry Olson said that, in almost every instance like this, the writer intends to steal the victim’s money from the account.
, DataTimes