Provision of information held by Northumbria Police made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the 'Act')
As you may be aware the purpose of the Act is to allow a general right of access to information held at the time of a request, by a Public Authority (including the Police), subject to certain limitations and exemptions.
You asked:
- How many reports of drink spiking have been reported to Northumbria Police in the past 5 years? Please separate into (a) 2017 (b) 2018 (c) 2019 (d) 2020 and (e) 2021 (January - October)
- How many reports of spiking by injection been reported to Northumbria Police in the past 5 years? Please separate into (a) 2017 (b) 2018 (c) 2019 (d) 2020 and (e) 2021 (January - October)
- For each report could you please provide the (a) age (b) gender (c) ethnicity of the victim.
- For each report could you please provide the location of the allegation.
- For each report could you please provide the outcome type of the investigation.
In Response:
Following receipt of your request, searches were conducted with the Corporate Development Department of Northumbria Police. I can confirm that the information you have requested is held by Northumbria Police.
I am able to disclose the located information to you as follows.
- The results below are based on searches of the following offences:
- Administering poison so as to endanger life
- Use of noxious substances or things to cause harm and intimidate
- Administering poison with intent to injure or annoy
- Administering a substance with intent
- We have also included cases wherein the Method-Means states Spiked Drink
- It should be noted that drink spiking can take place in locations other than bars and nightclubs, for example domestic or residential homes. These incidences will be included in this dataset.
- Please note that some of the data has been presented in such a manner (in response to points 2, 3 and 4) as to avoid the application of exemptions relevant under the Act (Section 40 – Personal Information) to withhold, due to low numbers, and these will not be broken down further.
1.
|
Year |
Count |
|
2017 |
22 |
|
2018 |
38 |
|
2019 |
34 |
|
2020 |
34 |
|
2021 |
64 |
|
Total |
192 |
2.
|
Year |
Count |
|
2017 |
- |
|
2018 |
6 |
|
2019 |
|
|
2020 |
|
|
2021 |
14 |
|
Total |
20 |
3.
|
Age Group |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
Total |
|
Drink |
22 |
38 |
34 |
34 |
64 |
192 |
|
1 to 20 |
10 |
12 |
12 |
12 |
28 |
74 |
|
21 to 25 |
2 |
6 |
6 |
3 |
18 |
35 |
|
26 to 30 |
- |
7 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
14 |
|
31 to 35 |
- |
6 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
15 |
|
36 to 50 |
7 |
3 |
7 |
11 |
5 |
33 |
|
51 to 85 |
5 |
4 |
2 |
5 |
16 |
|
|
Not recorded |
5 |
5 |
||||
|
Injection |
2 |
4 |
14 |
20 |
||
|
11 to 60 |
2 |
4 |
14 |
|||
|
Total |
22 |
39 |
35 |
38 |
78 |
212 |
|
Gender |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
Total |
|
Drink |
22 |
38 |
34 |
34 |
64 |
192 |
|
Male |
5 |
13 |
13 |
14 |
18 |
63 |
|
Female |
16 |
25 |
21 |
19 |
45 |
126 |
|
Unknown |
3 |
3 |
||||
|
Injection |
2 |
18 |
20 |
|||
|
Male |
- |
- |
- |
3 |
3 |
|
|
Female |
2 |
3 |
12 |
17 |
||
|
Total |
22 |
39 |
35 |
38 |
78 |
212 |
|
Ethnicity |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
Total |
|
Drink |
22 |
38 |
34 |
34 |
64 |
192 |
|
Asian |
3 |
3 |
||||
|
Black |
- |
- |
- |
- |
2 |
2 |
|
White - North European |
22 |
35 |
30 |
32 |
50 |
169 |
|
White - South European |
2 |
2 |
||||
|
Other/Unknown |
16 |
16 |
||||
|
Injection |
2 |
4 |
14 |
20 |
||
|
White - North European/ Other/Unknown |
2 |
4 |
14 |
20 |
||
|
Total |
22 |
39 |
35 |
38 |
78 |
212 |
4.
|
Location – Area Command |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
Total |
|
Drink |
22 |
38 |
34 |
34 |
64 |
192 |
|
Northern |
4 |
10 |
4 |
9 |
9 |
36 |
|
Central |
16 |
19 |
24 |
15 |
44 |
118 |
|
Southern |
2 |
9 |
6 |
10 |
11 |
38 |
|
Injection |
6 |
14 |
20 |
|||
|
Northern |
4 |
4 |
||||
|
Central |
3 |
10 |
13 |
|||
|
Southern |
- |
- |
- |
- |
3 |
3 |
|
Total |
22 |
39 |
35 |
38 |
78 |
212 |
|
Location |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Drink |
22 |
38 |
34 |
34 |
64 |
192 |
|
Bar/Public House/Nightclub |
16 |
22 |
14 |
14 |
49 |
115 |
|
Dwelling |
5 |
10 |
15 |
12 |
10 |
52 |
|
Care Home/Hospital/ Hotel/ Metro Train/ Outdoor location/Restaurant/School Premises/ Shop/Snooker Club/Street/Student Accommodation/ Workplace |
7 |
5 |
8 |
5 |
25 |
|
|
Injection |
2 |
4 |
14 |
20 |
||
|
Bar/Public House/ Nightclub /Dwelling/ Outdoor location |
2 |
4 |
14 |
20 |
||
|
Total |
22 |
39 |
35 |
38 |
78 |
212 |
5.
|
Outcome |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
Total |
|
Drink |
22 |
38 |
34 |
34 |
64 |
192 |
|
Caution adult |
3 |
3 |
||||
|
Evidential difficulties |
6 |
11 |
8 |
5 |
3 |
33 |
|
Investigation complete - no suspect identified |
10 |
20 |
16 |
17 |
17 |
80 |
|
Offender deceased |
2 |
2 |
||||
|
Victim declines or is unable to identify suspect |
4 |
7 |
3 |
5 |
23 |
|
|
Victim does not support police action |
6 |
7 |
4 |
17 |
||
|
Not stated |
- |
- |
- |
- |
34 |
34 |
|
Injection |
- |
64 |
14 |
20 |
||
|
Evidential difficulties |
2 |
2 |
||||
|
Investigation complete - no suspect identified |
4 |
4 |
||||
|
Victim declines or is unable to identify suspect/ Victim does not support police action |
3 |
3 |
||||
|
Not stated |
- |
- |
- |
- |
11 |
11 |
|
Total |
22 |
39 |
35 |
38 |
78 |
212 |
