Drink Spiking Safety

DRINK SPIKING SAFETY

Drink Spikers may add GBH, Valium, Ketamine, and other drugs into drink or even food. This is a “Roofied” drink and may lead to date rape or even worse. In a recent large case, a victim was roofied with Fentanyl and that is one drug that can lead to death.

Drink Spikers are habitual. Sometimes they do this for entertainment, and sometimes to create a victim of assault or robbery. The dangerous spikers look innocent but do this regularly…and are good at what they do.

Many spikers are "friends" or acquaintances, so choose wisely those that you hang out with, and other than very good friends you should be suspect.  

Is spiking a crime? Most people get spiked (roofied) and feel and do crazy stuff, not acting like themselves at all. Somebody did this to them for some reason and hopefully another caring person catches this and gets them safely home. Get this, in most states:

Drink Spiking is a FELONY.

As an example, in Oregon ORS 475.908:

• Class B Felony: This is the base charge for knowingly causing another to ingest a substance without consent.
• Class A Felony: This higher charge applies if the spiking is done with the intent to commit or facilitate a crime of violence, such as sexual assault or robbery. 

A perpetrator can spend many years in PRISON as a result of spiking somebody’s drink. 

Prevention

Cover your drink with a Nightcap (go to nightcapit.com). Nightcaps are a great method of keeping the spiker from victimizing you. There have been reported cases where a person will return to a covered drink and there will be a pill or powder on top of the nightcap, placed there in a dark bar or lounge by a perpetrator who did not see the nightcap on the glass.

Don’t leave your drink unattended. Close friends should watch each other’s drinks.

Drinking Buddy - Have a 100% friend who you can trust chosen prior to going out. This is super important because after being spiked, it will be an issue trying to figure out who you can trust…it is too late by then. 

Homeowner - If your home is the party location, invest in video cameras inside and out. Kitchen, gathering areas, patios, make sure they can cover the areas where drinks or food can be altered.You have responsibility as the homeowner and this also aids in possible litigation. The cost of cameras is nothing compared to the cost of losing a lawsuit.

Mitigation

Plan on how you will NOT get spiked when you are out in public or at a party. 

Place your drink in a well lit area and around trusted friends.

Identify where surveillance video cameras are in the area or building. Place yourself and drink in view of those cameras.

Identify who the PIC (Person In Charge) is and how to contact them quickly in case something happens. This can be a manager, homeowner, business owner, etc. 

Victimization

The moment you feel fuzzy or sluggish, immediately locate your drinking buddy. It is time for both of you to adult-up and take this seriously. If there is a DD (dedicated driver/sober person), get them involved. 

Do not trust who you do not already trust.

Have somebody locate the PIC and report the issue. 

Perpetration

The perpetrator can be anybody, maybe a “friend” or acquaintance who just thought it would be fun!

The perpetrator could use drugs, OR more or higher percentage alcohol in the drink. Who is the tender or mixer?

The perpetrator can add substances to food as well, watch the kitchen.

The perpetrator may be the first person to “notice” that you are having issues and offer to help you or take you somewhere else because you are not feeling well. Be careful and use you drinking buddy only!

Investigation

Attempted or Successful?

When a drink spiking is successful we now have a victim. A victim can choose to investigate (with help of a solid friend), to report, and press charges. They can also file a civil lawsuit seeking restitution or remedy. A victim can do these things, but rarely does.

When a spiking is attempted but unsuccessful, we get angry or scared or feel almost violated, but we are not a victim and most often nothing is done about this attempted crime. Yes, “ATTEMPTED” is a crime and as an example under Oregon law we would call this a “substantial step” toward committing the crime. This is an Attempt Law, ORS 161.405 and it is a FELONY, just like Attempted Murder or Attempted Rape.

Whether you are a victim, OR if you see a pill or powder in or around you drink, you call the police. You immediately collect the information and evidence as below. Do not wait for the police  or for people to leave the building. 

Collection - Witnesses and Evidence

1. If you are calling the police, then leave it in it's original location, but guard it well. If this is not possible, collect the cup and put it somewhere safe (with contents) and make sure to mark its original location on the table or bar. Testing may be completed by the local or state crime lab, as well as by a private laboratory.
2. Begin a timeline, what time the symptoms started or you saw the evidence.
3. Immediately assign somebody to collect names and phone numbers of those around you, as well as the bartender or those that deliver drinks.
4. Identify where the drink was or may have been, and locate the appropriate camera(s) from there.

Video Note: 

You want and require all video from all cameras from the site (inside and out) for the time bracket of the incident, +/- at least one hour either way so as to track the perpetrator’s activities. You need to see who was coming and going to the property.

Request the video evidence yourself as you are the victim or attempted victim - you have that right. If you are leaving the collection of that video to the police make sure you understand that these things:

1. It must be collected immediately. By policy or habit, many bars or restaurants will erase or write over their video in a matter of days…then it is lost forever. 
2. Do not allow the proprietor or police to be lazy and not give you a good amount of time either side of your time bracket (minimum one hour each side, more if you can get it)...and ALL cameras, inside and out. Don’t let them argue with you as you need to see who was coming and going and when…so, parking lots and everything.
3. ALSO, sometimes officers will be LAZY and do what we call “video of video” evidence collection. This is when they take a video with their cell phone of the video on the surveillance monitor. This will yield nasty final product, grainy and unmanageable in investigation. We need the original video downloaded on a portable drive of some type. Do not let them argue with that point. If the police say “Oh yeah, we got the video”, challenge them on what they really have in their possession. On tough downloads, I will immediately bring in my tech guy to make sure it happens correctly.
4. Adjacent Video. There may be video available from adjacent businesses or ring cameras from other residences as well. Look around and get everything that you can!

Whether the incident was a spiking, or an attempted spiking, they are both FELONYS. Be INVOLVED with your investigation. Do not rely on the full competency of your local police. From minute one, you need to be aware of what police are doing in your investigation. If you feel that the investigation is inadequate, contact a competent private investigator and have them engage in your case immediately. Police resources are often stretched thin and to be honest, drink spiking cases are not always treated with high priority. Like the TV Show “48 Hours”, after that time post-incident, information, evidence, and memories will begin fading.

Also, know this. If you have financial resources and impetus to move forward legally, hire the investigator, then consider hiring an attorney (ask the investigator for references). One thing that most people do not consider is that neither the police nor the district attorney represent you. Some people think that the DA legally represents you, but that is not true as the DA only represents the state and so they do not legally represent you in the system. Nobody represents you except you, and the best way to move your case forward and make things happen is to hire an attorney who then will represent you and your interest every step of the way. Just a thought.

Everybody should take drink spiking seriously, and if you are one who has spiked others for fun or for felonious purposes, just know that you are on our radar and a felony judgment is not a good thing to have on your record…and prison time is not super fun either.

Scott Clark

CloudCover Investigative Services

cloudcoverpnw@gmail.com

541-620-3668