Spiking 695/2023

FOI Reference: 695/23

Request:

Q1) For the previous 5 calendar years please provide the total numbers of spiking incidents reported, plus any figures available on such reports for 2023 (specifying period).

Please search for this data by means of keyword searches of MO codes, using the terms 'spike', 'spiking', ‘spiked’, and crimes alleged under the following Home Office codes:-

005/10 Administering poison so as to endanger life

005/24 Use of noxious substances or things to cause harm and intimidate

008/02 Administering poison with intent to injure or annoy

088/05 Administering a substance with intent

Please could you provide this data broken down by year.

1. a) 2018
2. b) 2019
3. c) 2020
4. d) 2021
5. e) 2022
6. f) 2023 - latest available data

Clarification:

Question

Are you referring to incidents or crimes? Please note an incident is different from a crime.  An incident is a record of contact made to a police force by an individual/member of public (usually via a 999 or 101 call) and a crime is where the threshold has been met for the police force to deem that a criminal offence has occurred as defined by law.

Answer

I am asking about incidents.

 

Response:

I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information requested, the details of which are as follows:

Total number of Spiking incidents
Year	Number of reports
2018	12
2019	33
2020	23
2021	61
2022	89
2023 (01/01/23 – 15/05/23)	23
Total	241

                                                                                                           

It should be noted that owing to the systems adopted by Dyfed-Powys Police in relation to the recording of such matters the information provided may or may not be accurate.   

Police Forces in the United Kingdom are routinely required to provide crime statistics to government bodies and the recoding criteria is set nationally.  However, the systems used for recording these figures are not generic, nor are the procedures used locally in capturing the data.  It should be noted that for these reasons this Force’s response to your questions should not be used for comparison purposes with any other response you may receive.

(This is a response under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and disclosed on 05/04/24)