Searching for a needle in a haystack? An exploratory study into the policing of ‘needle spiking’ in the UK

In autumn 2021 social media posts about ‘needle’ spiking – the injecting of a person with drugs without their consent – began to circulate in the UK. This research supplements media articles and official documents with new empirical data (885 incidents from 32 police forces obtained via Freedom of I...

Ausführliche Beschreibung

Gespeichert in:  
Bibliographische Detailangaben
VerfasserInnen: Westmarland, Nicole 1977- (Verfasst von) ; McCarry, Melanie (Verfasst von)
Medienart: Elektronisch Aufsatz
Sprache:Englisch
Veröffentlicht: 2025
In: Policing and society
Jahr: 2025, Band: 35, Heft: 9, Seiten: 1191-1202
Online-Zugang: Volltext (kostenfrei)
Verfügbarkeit prüfen: HBZ Gateway
Schlagwörter:

MARC

LEADER 00000naa a22000002c 4500
001 194011599X
003 DE-627
005 20251104092257.0
007 cr uuu---uuuuu
008 251104s2025 xx |||||o 00| ||eng c
024 7 |a 10.1080/10439463.2025.2462742  |2 doi 
035 |a (DE-627)194011599X 
035 |a (DE-599)KXP194011599X 
040 |a DE-627  |b ger  |c DE-627  |e rda 
041 |a eng 
084 |a 2,1  |2 ssgn 
100 1 |a Westmarland, Nicole  |d 1977-  |e VerfasserIn  |0 (DE-588)1071831240  |0 (DE-627)826371361  |0 (DE-576)189499397  |4 aut 
109 |a Westmarland, Nicole 1977- 
245 1 0 |a Searching for a needle in a haystack? An exploratory study into the policing of ‘needle spiking’ in the UK 
264 1 |c 2025 
336 |a Text  |b txt  |2 rdacontent 
337 |a Computermedien  |b c  |2 rdamedia 
338 |a Online-Ressource  |b cr  |2 rdacarrier 
520 |a In autumn 2021 social media posts about ‘needle’ spiking – the injecting of a person with drugs without their consent – began to circulate in the UK. This research supplements media articles and official documents with new empirical data (885 incidents from 32 police forces obtained via Freedom of Information requests and five interviews with victims). The purpose of the article is to document what is known about needle spiking in order to improve responses. The FOI data showed that there was a peak in reported incidents in October and November 2021, that the most frequent location of the needle stick injury was the arm (followed by the leg), and that while three quarters of the incidents took place in a pub, bar or club, needle spiking was not exclusively a night-time economy problem. Needle spikings were rarely perpetrated as a ‘gateway crime’ to commit another criminal offence such as sexual assault, it was not restricted only to young women, and victims faced disbelief from a number of directions including some parts of the media and police. Few drugs were identified (mamba, insulin and cocaine) but problems with forensic testing exist, meaning that greater emphasis on other forms of evidence collection is required. We propose that greater multi-agency working is required to tackle needle-spiking as there are overlapping needs in terms of needle (and other forms) of spiking relating to health and policing. More research is needed, particularly on offender motivations to fully understand and respond to the problem of spiking. 
650 4 |a gender-based violence 
650 4 |a Night-time economy 
650 4 |a Drugs 
650 4 |a Spiking 
700 1 |a McCarry, Melanie  |e VerfasserIn  |0 (orcid)0000-0003-4315-7035  |4 aut 
773 0 8 |i Enthalten in  |t Policing and society  |d Getzville, NY : HeinOnline, 1990  |g 35(2025), 9, Seite 1191-1202  |h Online-Ressource  |w (DE-627)341899089  |w (DE-600)2069649-8  |w (DE-576)272349933  |x 1477-2728  |7 nnas 
773 1 8 |g volume:35  |g year:2025  |g number:9  |g pages:1191-1202 
856 |u https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/preview/3465949/3465956AAM.pdf  |x unpaywall  |z Vermutlich kostenfreier Zugang  |h null [deprecated] 
856 4 0 |u https://doi.org/10.1080/10439463.2025.2462742  |x Resolving-System  |z kostenfrei  |3 Volltext 
912 |a NOMM 
935 |a mkri 
951 |a AR 
ELC |a 1 
LOK |0 000 xxxxxcx a22 zn 4500 
LOK |0 001 4795866465 
LOK |0 003 DE-627 
LOK |0 004 194011599X 
LOK |0 005 20251104043606 
LOK |0 008 251104||||||||||||||||ger||||||| 
LOK |0 035   |a (DE-2619)KrimDok#2025-11-03#17866AE84E1F189F756CD68EE32183610C3A5486 
LOK |0 040   |a DE-2619  |c DE-627  |d DE-2619 
LOK |0 092   |o n 
LOK |0 852   |a DE-2619 
LOK |0 852 1  |9 00 
LOK |0 935   |a zota 
OAS |a 1 
ORI |a WA-MARC-krimdoka001.raw