Former Police lead calls for new law to tackle drink spiking
Our #Spiked investigation hears from a former Police officer who wants to see greater powers for forces
A former leading Police officer has told us forces should be given more powers to help tackle the epidemic of spiking.
Jason Harwin recently retired from the National Police Chief's Council, where he focused on tackling drink spiking on a national level.
He believes spiking should be considered an offence in its own right.
At the moment officers use laws from the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act, or a handful of other laws when pursuing a prosecution.
Spiking as a specific offence
Earlier this year, the government rejected the idea of making spiking a specific offence, saying officers already had all the laws they needed to achieve prosecutions.
Jason believes this is no longer an appropriate to tackle the modern way in which people are targeted.
He told our #Spiked campaign: "This is a serious issue we're dealing with, an issue which is severely under-reported and the reality is, unless we start changing the behaviour of individuals committing this offence we're going to see far too many victims of it in the future as well.
"By having a set piece of legislation, which says spiking is, in itself, an offence, straight away it shows the importance of it, it can lead into sentencing for those caught in relation to the offence, and for victims it shows its importance, and that we're going to take more action.
READ: 'I was covered in blood' - what it's really like to be spiked
"In reality we want to make it as easy as possible for officers firstly to record it correctly, and secondly so we can identify a growing pattern of behaviour, in a certain location, or a certain type of offender, and then it gives us the best opportunity to catch those responsible."
Jason also urged victims of spiking to come forward, as our investigation found only around one in ten people ever reported being spiked to the Police.
He said: "We need people to report it.
"I understand why people may not report it, they may feel that they're going to get judged - well we're not here to judge, you're a victim of crime, we're here to protect you and future victims as well.
"By you reporting it, it gives us a chance to catch those responsible."
Labour Leader Sir Keir Starmer told our investigation a future Labour government would make spiking a specific criminal offence.
Home office calls spiking a "cowardly act"
A Home Office spokesperson said: "Spiking is a cowardly act which is already illegal and something this government takes very seriously which is why we’ve already looked at this issue.
"We carefully considered making spiking a specific offence, listening to a range of experts, including the police, criminal justice partners, victims and others. We decided this was already effectively covered by existing legislation.
“Anyone who commits this crime faces up to ten years behind bars and with that law in place our focus is instead on preventing this crime, supporting victims and putting perpetrators behind bars.”
Where to get support, information and help about spiking
If you've got questions about spiking or want to know more
Find out what the Police say about it, in terms of signs and symptoms and getting support
Check out the I've Been Spiked Instagram feed
Get advice from DrinkAware
There's more on the Rape Crisis website if you'd like to explore it there
And find out about the Stamp Out Spiking campaign