Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (UK Und./police ) any form of search or interrogation.

1975		‘P.B. Yuill’ Hazell and the Three-card Trick (1977) 179: If the law gives me a spin I’m sunk, in I?
2000		J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 162: I goofed out. I thought if it’s a spin, I’ve had a nice bitta gear, fuck ’em, I’m sweet.

2. (UK prison) a search of a cell.

1986		J. Campbell Gate Fever 16: When a cell is raided it’s a spin and the screws involved are burglars.
1998		J. Hoskison Inside 79: This is a cell spin. Anything you shouldn’t have, tell us now!
2004		(con. 1990s) N. ‘Razor’ Smith A Few Kind Words and a Loaded Gun 411: I was taken from work to my cell for a random spin (cell search) by four diddy members of the DST.