Overview

• GMP is running a focused operation during National Spiking Intensification Week from September 15–21 to protect new and returning students on nights out.
• Officers are increasing city-centre patrols, conducting licensing checks, hosting campus engagement events, and handing out testing and prevention kits such as bottle tops and drink sticks.
• Spiking is defined by GMP as a criminal act that can lead to a custodial sentence, including secretly adding drugs or extra alcohol to someone’s drink without consent.
• Operation Safer Streets has been relaunched to target violence against women and girls across Manchester’s night-time economy hotspots as part of wider safety work.
• Cumbria Police have announced parallel Freshers’ Week measures with stepped-up patrols, anti-spiking product distribution, and outreach at fairs in Carlisle, Ambleside, and Barrow.