Spiking under the spotlight as new students arrive in North Yorkshire

We’re raising awareness of spiking during a week of activities to cut offences and support anyone who thinks they may have been targeted.

It comes as thousands of students attend freshers’ week activities at universities and colleges across North Yorkshire.

Spiking – when someone sneaks drugs or alcohol into your drink or food – is under-reported and many people don’t know how to spot the signs.

Inspector Danny Leach, who is co-ordinating the intensification week under Operation Lester which is the policing operation for spiking incidents, said: “This week is about keeping people safe, especially young people who may be away from home for the first time and might not be aware this can happen to them.

“Spiking is illegal. But being spiked isn’t – victims won’t get into trouble even if they’ve chosen to take other drugs. We want to get that message across loud and clear this week.”

A range of activities are planned:

• There will be extra night patrols in town and city centres, when officers will be chatting to the public and handing out information to further educate them about signs of alcohol and drug spiking.
  
  
• Officers have set up a survey to help gather more information about how widely the offence is being reported. You can share details of your experiences here.
  
  
• There will also be operations by plain-clothed officers to identify anyone acting suspiciously in busy nighttime locations.
  
  
• Police are visiting freshers’ fairs in York and Selby to raise awareness among new students.
  
  
• And the force will also be building on existing work with bar and pub staff, door staff and others who help keep people safe in the nighttime economy.

Insp Leach said: “While there are sometimes clues your drink has been spiked, like a cloudy appearance or a bitter taste, in reality it’s often hard to tell.

“The first sign can actually be feeling unusually disoriented and drowsy.

“That’s why we’re working closely with bar and security staff across the county, who’ve been trained to spot the signs and help people out if they’re targeted.

“By having this network of awareness and support, we can keep more people safe even more of the time.

“It’s also really important that people report incidents, so we can take appropriate action against the perpetrator and ensure the victim gets any support they need.”

Anyone who thinks they have just been spiked, or has just seen it happen to someone else, should dial 999. If it happened in the past, you can call us on 101 or report it online.

There are around 590 drink spiking cases reported nationally every day.

In around three quarters of cases the victim is female and while date-rape drugs such as Rohypnol are perhaps the best-known substances, many different drugs or even strong alcohol are used.

Perpetrators may use spiking to commit sexual offences, robbery or other crimes. But in the majority of reported cases, no second offence is committed after the initial spiking incident.

If you think you may have been affected, you can find information here: Spiking | Police.uk (www.police.uk)