Police forces launch awareness campaign for Anti-Spiking Week 2024

As thousands of young people head to university and prepare to experience their first Freshers’ Week, police forces across the country are raising awareness for how to stay safe when socialising, as part of Anti-Spiking Week (16-22 September 2024).

What is spiking?

Spiking refers to giving someone drugs or alcohol without their knowledge or consent. This could be the act of placing a substance in their drink, their vape, or injecting it by needle.

Spiking is a crime in any form and can make it easier to commit other crimes against the victim, including theft and assault. While some may do it ‘for fun’, it typically has a more sinister motive.

More insights can be found on this Government factsheet.

How big a problem is it?

80% of reported spiking incidents happen in public places, mainly in pubs and nightclubs. More than half of incidents take place in busy town centres or locations where there are a large number of bars and clubs.

Anyone can be spiked but victims are more likely to be young women. The average age of a spiking victim is 26, and women are the victims in roughly three quarters of all spiking offences.

Hampshire police dealt with 91 cases of drink spiking between August and December last year. In 2021, this figure hit 212 during the same period.

Common signs someone has been spiked

• Nausea
• Dizziness
• Unsteadiness
• Blurred vision
• Paranoia
• Hallucinations
• Suddenly becoming very tired
• Becoming unresponsive
• Behaving out of character

The role of security officers

Security professionals have an important role to play in deterring, recognising and responding to suspected spiking incidents and other suspicious activity, with spiking forming part of SIA licence training.

Here at Venture, spiking is an issue all our officers are fully trained to recognise. It is of particular relevance to our event security team and also our Night Wardens, who are active in Salisbury and Trowbridge every Friday and Saturday night, helping to tackle violence against women and girls, reducing antisocial behaviour and ultimately making the streets safer for all.

Both these teams are highly alert to identify and respond to signs of vulnerability. For example, by offering help to anyone who looks lost or isolated and intervening if someone appears to be receiving unwanted attention.

They will also look out for signs of predatory behaviour include someone who is often surveying their surroundings, or whose hand is hovering near another person’s drink and who quickly draws it away.

If a spiking incident is reported to them or they identify a vulnerable person, they will prioritise the welfare and safety of the victim, provide first aid or call an ambulance if the situation requires it and always be analysing the situation to assess for further danger.

Our security officers may also act in the following ways:

• Call the police
• Assess the people accompanying the victim – how much does the victim know about them and how concerned or surprised are they?
• Detain the people accompanying the victim if they try to leave when they learn the police are coming – if this is unsafe, they will take note of their appearances and their direction of travel to tell the police
• Secure evidence, like the glass or bottle the victim was drinking from
• Secure CCTV footage that might show criminal activity
• Seek witnesses, as well as any witness footage like smartphone videos

To find out more about preventing or reporting spiking visit www.police.uk or www.drinkaware.co.uk