Report spiking on behalf of someone else
If you or someone else is in danger right now
If you or someone else are injured, in immediate danger or you need support right away, call 999 now.
If you have a hearing or speech impairment, use our textphone service 18000 or text us on 999 if you’ve pre-registered with the emergencySMS service.
If you're in danger but you can't talk on the phone, you should still call 999, then follow these instructions.
| 1. Tell us about spiking |
| 2. If the spiking incident happened recently |
| 3. Reporting spiking that happened some time ago |
| 4. How we collect evidence |
| 5. Reporting anonymously |
If someone has been spiked and doesn’t feel able to speak to the police yet, you can report it yourself. We’ll record the incident and work with you to make sure the victim is okay.
Tell us about spiking
If you report on behalf of someone else, we’ll ask you if they know you are making the report and if we can contact them or not.
After you report, we’ll contact that person as soon as they are well enough to give a victim statement.
But you can tell us about spiking even if the victim or you don't want to give us contact details.
We would like to know about any spiking incident, no matter how long ago it happened. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know all the details of what happened to the person who was spiked. Or if you’re not sure if there’s any evidence.
If the spiking incident happened recently
If the person who was spiked feels unwell, you should get them emergency medical attention. Tell them that you believe someone spiked them. Call an ambulance if the symptoms get worse.
NHS
Find NHS urgent and emergency services:
If you're in England
If you think there may have been a sexual assault
If you think there may have been a sexual assault, take them to your nearest sexual assault referral centre (SARC) for specialist care and support.
Find your nearest SARC:
Reporting sexual assault with spiking on behalf of a victim can be traumatising for them. If possible, ask them if they want you to report it to the police before you contact us. But you do not need their consent to report the incident to us if you feel that you need us to know about it.
We do understand that this can be difficult if the person who was assaulted is a loved one. You can report the incident to us for now. We’ll speak to the victim as soon as they are able to do so to tell us in their own words what happened.
Reporting spiking that happened some time ago
You can report a spiking incident that happened to someone else at any time to us online. This is even if this was months, years or decades ago. If you report spiking that happened more than seven days ago, we might still be able to investigate and collect evidence.
We take every report seriously, no matter how much time has passed.
How we collect evidence
Getting tested
If the spiking happened within the last seven days, we may ask the person who was spiked to give us a urine or blood sample for a forensic test. This can establish whether someone may have spiked them.
A forensic test means that we can use the result in evidence in court, if we identify and find who spiked them. If they think they’ve been sexually assaulted, a sexual assault referral centre (SARC) can also take these forensic tests, as well as giving them specialist support.
Some drugs leave the body within 12 hours or much sooner. If you report to us as soon as possible, we can take a sample that could be used for testing. Other drugs remain in the body longer, so we might be able to test the victim up to seven days after the incident.
If someone has spiked them with alcohol, there are other ways we can investigate what happened to them.
Other evidence
If there might be other evidence, we’ll ask you to preserve it if you can. This could include something that the offender might have left behind at the scene. For example, a glass or needle. It could help us prove what happened. But don't worry if you don't think there's evidence.
Read more about how we collect evidence
Reporting anonymously
You can tell us about spiking without telling us who you are or giving us your contact details. And if the victim doesn't want you to give us their details, we would still like to hear from you.
These reports can help us stop people spiking in future.
If you don’t give us your details we may not be able to fully investigate. This is because we can't get back in touch with you to ask you more. It may also hinder our ability to find out whoever spiked you. But you can always give us your details later if you change your mind.
You can also give information about spiking anonymously via the Crimestoppers website or by calling them on 0800 555 111.