MORE than 80 reports of needle spiking have been made to Durham police in less than six months, according to the region’s police and crime commissioner.

Joy Allen, who holds the position for the whole of County Durham, told a Home Affairs Committee today (January 26) that the police force has received 82 reports of such crimes between October 10, 2021 and January 20, 2022.

Of this figure, 37 were thought to be injection-related spiking incidents, but this was reduced from 37 to 25 offences after medical examination.

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As part of the conversation, Ms Allen said that “this is a “significant number that demonstrates the trend”, but added that a “staggering” number of people who are spiked do not feel comfortable to report it.

She added: “I think that’s just a drop in the ocean because we know a lot of people aren’t coming forward.

“I think one of the challenges is that witnesses simply aren’t reporting it, or don’t have faith in the system to report it.

The Northern Echo: Joy Allen, Durham's Police and Crime Commissioner, giving evidence to a Home Affairs Committee today (January 26). Picture: PARLIAMENT TV. Joy Allen, Durham's Police and Crime Commissioner, giving evidence to a Home Affairs Committee today (January 26). Picture: PARLIAMENT TV.

“I’ve heard from victims of spiking before and the confidence element come up time and time again. Only ten percent of victims will come forward, but we need to have a joined up approach with the police to allow the other 90 per cent to come forward.

“We need to listen to victims, listen to what they’re telling us and act upon that.”

The committee meeting that Ms Allen spoke in was set up earlier today to hear evidence from police representatives as part of its inquiry into spiking.

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Alongside the examples given from the Durham Constabulary patrol area, the committee heard that more than 1,300 reports of needle spiking have been made to UK police forces since September last year.

Jason Harwin, National Police Chiefs Council drugs lead, told the Home Affairs Committee that police forces have received 1,382 reports of such crimes in that short timeframe.

And forces are aware of a comparatively small number of secondary offences, such as sexual assault or theft, which have been linked to needle spiking.

The Northern Echo: Between October 2021 and January 2022, there have been 82 reported incidents of spiking in County Durham. Around three in ten of these were injection-related. Between October 2021 and January 2022, there have been 82 reported incidents of spiking in County Durham. Around three in ten of these were injection-related.

In contrast, he said there were 1,903 crimes that could be related to spiking across the whole of 2019.

According to the police lead, needle spiking is a new phenomenon taking place across the UK, with some localised hotspots.

He said forces have started receiving an unprecedented volume of calls, and universities are also raising the issue.

He told MPs: “We’ve not seen this before. We get very little intelligence about the people who are carrying out these offences, and we need to improve in this area.

“We need to find the commonality and what links these offences in certain areas and deploy officers to deal with this pattern of spiking.”

Victims or witnesses of spiking can share their experiences through the committee’s public survey, which is open until January 31.

Watch the committee meeting here

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