More than 100 drink spiking crimes are taking place in London every month, figures have revealed.Campaigners on Tuesday issued urgent calls for action to protect victims amid a 13 per cent surge in spiking offences in the capital. A total of 1,383 allegations were recorded by police last year — an average of 115 a month.But the real figure is likely to be much higher, with the National Police Chiefs’ Council warning that the issue is underreported and that cases can be hard to investigate because drugs pass through the system quickly. Victims have suffered severe physical and mental health consequences as a result of the attacks.Eleanor Cunningham has the report.
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00:00More than 100 drink spiking crimes happen in London every month and the problem's been
00:08getting worse with the number surging 13% according to campaigners. And these are just
00:14the ones that are getting reported. Police reckon that that number could be much higher.
00:20According to data from the National Police Chiefs Council, those being targeted are usually
00:24women with an average age of around 26. Most cases of drinks being spiked are in bars and
00:30clubs but more than 100 times needle spiking took place. 28 people had their food tampered
00:37with. Police have even found offenders using poison vapes as well. Westminster had the
00:43number of the most reported cases and last year 70 arrests were made in London. Many
00:49victims say they feel disorientated or suffer from memory loss after being spiked. Others
00:55have been sexually assaulted, robbed and had their homes burgled. But of course the impact
01:01of the violation runs much deeper with survivors saying the impacts to their wellbeing go far
01:07beyond the night in question. It's not a nice feeling. You feel very vulnerable. I'm very
01:15cautious of it now. It's in my mind, in the back of my mind. But it's just scary to think
01:20that we can't just go on a night out and enjoy ourselves without having to cover your drinks
01:27and feel like you need to keep an eye on everything around you. It just doesn't feel very safe.
01:34Spiking is already a crime covered by other pieces of law and legislation but now the
01:39Labour government plans to introduce a new law to make spiking specifically a criminal
01:45offence. We'll hear about it in the King's speech tomorrow.