THE POLICE and crime commissioner said it was ‘absolutely incumbent’ on officers to investigate reports of drink spiking.
Mathew Barber agreed that it was ‘not right’ that women complaining of having been spiked in Oxfordshire were left feeling that they had to investigate their own cases.
Last year, Molly Hargreaves, 19, contacted the police over concerns that she’d be injected while on a night out in Abingdon.
Miss Hargreaves described the follow-up from the force as disappointing, saying she had been made to feel as if she should 'be the person to investigate it'.
READ MORE: Spiking victim told CCTV was “too long to look through” by police
She told the Oxford Mail that the police told her they were not going to check the CCTV as the time frame she gave could be inaccurate and it was ‘too long to look through’. She provided a urine sample but it was not tested as it was too long after the incident.
“The police officer who spoke to me said they had spoken with the detective who said to stop the case as there was no point in watching all of the CCTV,” she said.
“They said if there is another new case they will reopen mine.”
Speaking to the media last week at an event promoting the Project Vigilant scheme, which sees plain clothes officers patrol the city centre to catch predatory behaviour, Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Barber said he couldn’t comment on individual cases.
READ MORE: Woman spiked with needle after going on a bar crawl
“CCTV is a great tool and there’s more coming very soon to Oxford but it is only a tool and it is absolutely incumbent on the police to investigate,” he added.
“All of those investigations around allegations of drink spiking should and will be taken seriously.”
Mr Barber said an investigation had been launched examining any possible links between spiking reports.
He told the Oxford Mail: “We’ve got an individual within the force who’s collating all that work to establish any patterns that may emerge from that reporting to make sure we’ve really got that covered.
“There hasn’t so far been any significant evidence of those offences being taking place but each report will be taken seriously and I would want any individual who feels that they have been spiked either in their drink or with a needle to report to the police, because without that report we won’t be able to investigate it.”
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Last year, an investigation by this newspaper found that there were nearly 20 spiking incidents reported to police during a 12 month period between 2020 and 2021.
A keyword search by the police suggested that none involved spiking with a needle – with all related to drinks being adulterated.
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