Spiking incidents “subside” as Lincolnshire Police tackle violence on women

Incidents of spiking in Lincoln have “subsided” following a series of interventions, a Lincolnshire Police chief has told councillors.

Chief Superintendent Jon McAdam was grilled by councillors on the City of Lincoln Council’s Community Leadership Committee this week.

Asked about the promotion of women’s safety, he said violence against females was a “key priority” within policing.

“Lincolnshire is a really safe place to live, work and visit. I maintain that, but it doesn’t mean that things don’t happen.

“It doesn’t mean that unfortunately, some horrendous attacks do take place.

“What we have got in place is a commitment, where we’ve already placed a further Superintendent in charge of just focusing on the violence against women and girls,” he said.

He explained police were using a series of measures to gather intelligence including the StreetSafe App, which gives a weekly snapshot of data and feedback from people feeling isolated or fearing a risk of harm.

Officers are also working with partners to improve safety in the night-time economy by providing lids for drinks and carrying out regular drug testing.

He said his force had responded to a rise in spiking incidents nationally, with partners and carried out a lot of positive intervention.

“There are still concerning behaviours but… we’re continuing forensic examination to look at blood toxicology to understand if there was a drug involved, what level of drug and actually was it recreational or was it somebody who was dropped something into a drink?

“So again, we’ve managed to see that subside and we’ve just gone through freshers – a particular time for us, one raising awareness and two making sure that people can enjoy the city with the freedom and without feeling in fear of harm.”

Councillors were able to ask a series of questions to Chief Superintendent for Lincolnshire Police Jon McAdam.

Chief Supt Jon McAdam also pointed to an incident where police picked up reports of females being smacked on the backside by a lone rider on a bike.

“Some of those females didn’t feel that it was noteworthy at the time for fear they wouldn’t be taken seriously, and actually that there was no way we’d find who’s done it.”

He said officers worked closely with a university violence against women and girls group to put a response plan in place and an investigation plan.

“That led to not only identification of other victims, we were able to then go on the front foot with using the press the media.

“Out of that, actually, what we had was some some really unfortunate and horrendous cases where victims had been assaulted. They felt really threatened. And they felt like, actually, this was an ongoing concern, we were able to respond. And we’ve been able to stop that.”