Norwich City Council call to introduce new measures 

We were contacted on the 26th of January by journalist, Maya Derrick, who told us she was writing an article on drink spiking for the Norwich Evening News.

Maya told us that the issue was raised at a recent Norwich City Council meeting, and ‘the council has pledged to call on the government to increase police funding in a bid to tackle these new types of offences - whether by drink or injection - and to introduce 'new measures'’.

Maya contacted Stamp Out Spiking

Maya contacted Stamp Out Spiking to arrange a chat with Dawn to find her thoughts on the likely effects of this latest initiative by the council. The result of this interview and further investigations by Maya are published here:

https://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/news/crime/norwich-people-call-to-stamp-out-spiking-8646214

Startling

The article begins by telling us some startling news about drink spiking in Norwich.

‘This week Norwich City Council put forward a series of measures it says will help combat the crime. 

It comes after 51 spiking reports in Norwich were filed to Norfolk Police during October and November 2021. 

The council promised to push venues for more routine searches and increasing cash to tackle offending.’

SOS Ambassador - Lorna Street

Stamp Out Spiking ambassador for Norwich, Lorna Street, who was spiked when she was 18, said:

‘Too much is being left to charities… the central government needs to make the crime a priority.’

Lorna continued ‘having the conversation is definitely a start.’  

“People who feel comfortable talking about spiking will feel comfortable coming forward and reporting these problems.  

“That's what needs to happen so we know how many people are affected and where to target the education.” 

But she added: "Everyone has to get involved and obviously the government do need to make changes.”  

Charity gig

Lorna organised a charity gig earlier in the month at Voodoo Daddys in Norwich in aid of Stamp Out Spiking. This event raised over £1,000 to help make Norwich a safer city.

The report continued

The report continued, by telling us that Stamp Out Spiking founder Dawn Dines said: "We want to see if the council might match fund the money we raised or put in some additional funds. We want to use it to train up as many bar staff, security staff, and people involved in the nighttime economy as possible.”

 “This crime has no prejudice whatsoever, so we will be looking to see what sort of funding that the local safety partnership teams and the police can give." She added that a Stamp Out Spiking national survey revealed that 97pc of victims did not report that they had been spiked.”

Norwich City Council is taking the crime seriously

We are very pleased that Norwich City Council is taking the crime so seriously. We firmly believe that it is only with the cooperation and involvement of local government, local communities, the police and workers in the evening and nighttime economy that we will ever put an end to this insidious crime.

The article continued

“Young Labour chairwoman Jess Barnard helped organise Ketts Rebellion's anti-spiking protest in Prince of Wales Road back in November. 

The event demanded action over drink and needle spiking from both police and club owners. 

It came off the back of the weekend of October 25 when five people in the Prince of Wales Road reported being spiked by drugs or needles.” 

Jess said: “The promises can’t be lip service. It needs to be taken seriously”

“There's a lack of awareness about sexual violence and the impact that it has.  There needs to be a look at what the community response is to this problem.  It's not just about punishment and criminalising an action, it's about how to prevent it in the first place." 

We wholeheartedly agree with those sentiments. We need to educate the public to be more aware of spiking, and upskill frontline workers who have to deal with drink spiking cases on a regular basis.

Training Courses

Our Drink Spiking Awareness training is designed for bar staff, security staff and venue management.

Training packages are designed to increase awareness of spiking, the cause, effects and symptoms so staff can be aware and act accordingly to victims of drink spiking.

Courses can be individually designed for your venue, event or organisation to meet your current needs.

For more information please contact us.