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10-28-2006, 05:36 PM
When the man walked up to the security checkpoint at Wichita City Hall on Wednesday morning, officers asked to go through the small black pouch he was carrying.
"Oh, you don't need to do that," he reportedly told them. "It's just my medication."
But inspection is mandatory -- and a screener found three small bags of cocaine in the pouch.
The 45-year-old man suddenly decided he didn't want to be in City Hall after all, police Lt. Jeff Weible said. But security officers detained him, and after a visit to a local hospital because he complained of chest pains, he was taken to jail.
The episode was merely the latest example in a long string of people trying to get past the security checkpoint that opened in April, Weible said.
"They don't think we're going to check them," he said.
But screeners do -- and they've found cocaine, marijuana, Ecstasy, drug pipes, switchblades, throwing stars, daggers....
In the first three months of the checkpoint's use, Weible said, screeners were finding two or three illegal items a week. That average has declined only slightly in the past three months.
"Oh, you don't need to do that," he reportedly told them. "It's just my medication."
But inspection is mandatory -- and a screener found three small bags of cocaine in the pouch.
The 45-year-old man suddenly decided he didn't want to be in City Hall after all, police Lt. Jeff Weible said. But security officers detained him, and after a visit to a local hospital because he complained of chest pains, he was taken to jail.
The episode was merely the latest example in a long string of people trying to get past the security checkpoint that opened in April, Weible said.
"They don't think we're going to check them," he said.
But screeners do -- and they've found cocaine, marijuana, Ecstasy, drug pipes, switchblades, throwing stars, daggers....
In the first three months of the checkpoint's use, Weible said, screeners were finding two or three illegal items a week. That average has declined only slightly in the past three months.