Spiking: 'Nothing specific' to say it is an issue in Barnsley

A Barnsley police boss says there is ‘nothing specific’ to say that spiking is a ‘particular issue’ in the borough.
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Chief Superintendent James Abdy, Barnsley District Commander for South Yorkshire Police gave an update on the issue during a public accountability board meeting of the police and crime commissioner, Alan Billings today (December 6).

CS Abdy said there is ‘nothing specific to say that ketamine is a particular issue in Barnsley and spiking as a particular issue, but we do have a number of reports that we are following up and monitoring on a daily basis’.

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"When we get a response to a report of spiking, it's taken very, very seriously.""When we get a response to a report of spiking, it's taken very, very seriously."
"When we get a response to a report of spiking, it's taken very, very seriously."
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He added that across England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, data from the National Police Cheif’s Council NPCC had indicated that there were 198 confirmed reports of drink spiking during September and October.

He added that around 24 reports were related to possible injections.

“Locally, it’s important that firstly, we do understand what is causing any incident of spiking. When we get a response to a report of spiking, it’s taken very, very seriously.

“We have an enhanced investigative response to that.

“Part of the investigation is about establishing exactly what the drug or other factor may have been, which was being used in any spiking, and that requires sending items off for forensic analysis and… waiting for the results of such a thing.

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“At this stage, there’s nothing specific to say that that ketamine is a particular issue in Barnsley and spiking is a particular issue, but we do have a number of reports that we are following up and monitoring on a daily basis.

“[There is] no defined link locally that we see into spiking, but one that we are absolutely looking for as part of our investigative response.”