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Conference papers

Take away her freedom, and you could lose yours : the Western Australian Police Service Drink Spiking Education Project

Detective Sergeant Michelle Fyfe and Barry Newell
Western Australian Police Service

Presented at:
Third Australasian Women and Policing Conference: Women and Policing Globally
National Convention Centre, Canberra
20-23 October 2002

Abstract

The problem of stupefying women and associated crime (sexual assault, robbery) provides new challenges for law enforcement officers as perpetrators employ a range of new drugs to commit these offences. Research by police in the UK (the Sturman Report) helps confirm the increasing anecdotal reports of drink spiking and concludes that drug assisted sexual assault is a "small but growing problem worldwide". This research has prompted a range of prevention programs both in the UK and in Australia, which beg the question - what is best practice in the prevention and enforcement of this crime? The earliest programs targeted women and promoted a range of protective behaviours they could adopt to reduce their risk, while subsequent programs formed partnerships with licensed premises to improve the environment in which the crime occurs, such as updating staff, making premises safer and improving response to incidents. However research for the NSW Violence Against Women Strategy suggests that men must assume their share of responsibility for prevention of the crime and perpetrators (and potential perpetrators) must be targeted, while the UK research suggests that the collection of evidence must be improved. This paper describes the WAPS Drink Spiking Education Project, which incorporates all these measures in a comprehensive program that includes: convenience advertising aimed at women; convenience advertising aimed at men; partnerships with the liquor industry; updating of police on improvements in evidence gathering; and peer education. The project was launched in December 2001 and the paper discusses outcomes so far, which have included a 75% increase in drink spiking reports to the police.