The Government is considering changing the law to introduce a specific crime of drink spiking, which would be welcomed in Bristol. A campaign led by the city council, Avon & Somerset Police and Bristol City Centre Business Improvement District has been praised for having an immediate impact on the vile practice.
City council night-time economy adviser Carly Heath told a licensing committee meeting that making spiking an offence itself would make it easier to prosecute. She said: “The Home Office is deciding whether to make spiking an offence in its own right.
“Spiking is often bundled in with other types of crimes such as sexual assault or robbery but we know both from interviews with victims and conversations with operators that there are all sorts of different reasons and or motivations why drinks get spiked. Some people do it from a gender violence point of view, men also get spiked, people spike friends because they think it will be funny, people spike others they don’t like because of the humiliation, it can even be totally random.
Read more: Drink spiking campaign in Bristol sees reported incidents rocket
“Having an actual crime that is drink spiking would be really helpful.” She said the offence was not taken seriously enough in general.
“This perpetrator focused approach that Bristol is taking is very much leading the way in changing that narrative,” Carly told the meeting on Thursday, June 16. “There needs to be more seriousness put on the offence of drink spiking because it can be life-changing for some people, especially when it comes to needle spiking which is really violating to be jabbed and then out for eight hours.
“The needle-pricking scenario is a new problem that has emerged in the last few months since reopening. We have not quite got to grasp how needle spiking is happening or the drugs they’re using, so that is unfolding almost incident by incident.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “Spiking is an abhorrent crime and an issue that the Government takes very seriously. We have been working closely with the police and other key partners to develop an approach with victim care and protection at its core.
“We have already reclassified drugs which have been used for drink spiking and provided funding through the Safety of Women at Night and Safer Streets funds to support initiatives which prevent people from becoming victims of spiking. We recognise that there is more to be done, which is why we are continuing to drive forward this work to better understand and respond to incidents of spiking.
“This includes a new working group launched to tackle spiking attacks against students and working with law enforcement to consider the case for a new specific spiking offence.”
