FOI 241/25 Drink Spiking

Enquiry Reference: 241-25                                                                                                            

I write in connection with regards to your Freedom of Information request.  Below is your request and our response.

I would like to request the following information as part of my dissertation investigating how drink spiking differentiates from the United Kingdom and other countries.

Can I please have the following numbers relating to:

How many incidents of drink spiking were recorded by your force from the years 2019-2024?

What was the location of the drink spiking incidents from the years 2019-2024?

How many cases of drink spiking resulted in a court case/prosecution from the years 2019-2024?

How many cases from the years 2019-2024 were successful? I.e., was the offender charged?

Could I please have this information broken down into yearly?

Please note that we are only able to provide data from 2023 in relation to drink spiking, as incidents relating to this have been consistently assessed by the intelligence team since then.

The table below relates to the volume of drink spiking incidents (based on Intel assessment), broken down the MO location description of the crime. The analyst has added in a row after the grand total which relates to how many of the crimes has resulted in an outcome which is a charge.

We are unable to provide how many resulted in a court case. It is the duty of Cleveland Police to identify and apprehend suspects, decisions regarding prosecutions are the responsibility of the Crown Prosecution Service and Convictions is that of HM Courts Service therefore Conviction data is held by HM Courts.

Having made enquiries within the Force above is all the information we hold.  Please note that all statistical data supplied in relation to Freedom of Information requests is a snapshot of data held at the time the request was received by the Freedom of Information office and is subject to constant change/updates.

The Cleveland Police response to your request is unique and it should be noted that Police Forces do not use generic systems or identical procedures to capture and record data therefore responses from Cleveland Police should not be used as a comparison with any other force response you receive.

If you are not satisfied with this response or any actions taken in dealing with your request, you have the right to request an independent internal review of your case under our review procedure. The Freedom of Information Code of Practice (see below link) states that a request for internal review should be made within 20 working days of the date on this response or 40 working days if extenuating circumstances to account for the delay can be evidenced. Public authorities are not obliged to accept internal reviews after this date.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/freedom-of-information-code-of-practice

Yours sincerely

Information Rights Decision Maker