A specific offence for spiking would allow the police to gather data more efficiently and to enhance crime prevention initiatives, according to a leading police chief. Deputy chief constable Jason Harwin, the drugs lead for the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC), told MPs heading the Home Affairs Select Committee inquiry into spiking that a standalone offence would be ‘ideal’ in view of the barriers confronting victims attempting to report the crime.
At present, administering a substance with intent is listed as an offence under the Sexual Offences Act 2003. Perpetrators of spiking can be sentenced to up to ten years in prison, or even higher if committed in service of other offences such as rape and sexual assault. Harwin told MPs: ‘My personal view is that we need a separate offence for it because it highlights the importance of this crime, and secondly for me, importantly, it shows the importance that we see in terms of we need to do everything we can to stop it in the first place.’
Addressing the select committee, Harwin made note of the increasing prevalence of spiking offences, both in terms of drinks spiking and the ‘new phenomenon’ of spiking by injection. ‘From a law enforcement perspective, the needle-spiking reports enhanced our understanding of the issue.’ According to the police chief, police forces have seen 1,382 incident reports of needle-spiking since September 2021 – an uptake from the total of 1,903 crimes related to spiking that were documented across the whole of 2019.
Yet these figures, argued Harwin, mask the number of spiking offences that fall under the radar of the police: He said: ‘In terms of prevalence, we clearly have got an issue here in the UK. Importantly, we recognise the impact it has on victims and particularly those that have not got the confidence to come forward.’
As a precursory step towards a new offence, Harwin argued that creating a separate crime code for spiking would allow the police to gather data more efficiently and work in a manner that identifies gaps in reporting. ‘In the interim – and again we’re doing this with some of the needle spiking work – is if we flag it within the system as to how it is reported nationally through the regional crime units… it helps us develop that picture quickly now.’
Back in October, the Home Secretary Priti Patel was reported to have requested an urgent update from police forces across the country on investigations into needle-spiking offences perpetrated against women. In written evidence submitted by the NPCC to the inquiry, it was noted that of the total incident reports since September 2021, 84% of victims identified as female (868) whilst 16% of victims identified as male.
Durham Police and Crime Commissioner Joy Allen said was ‘quite staggering’ that only ten percent of people who have been the victim of spiking feel confident enough to report it in. ‘To work and to support the police from a problem-solving, partnership approach, we need the other ninety-percent feeling confident in some way that they can report the issues in,’ she said.
