FOI 465294
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 465294
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 23rd March 2026. Please find below the response to your request:
Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 please provide (to the best of your ability) the following aggregated numbers (for your police force area).
For the period of 1 year (including start and end date) 1 January 2025 - 31 December 2025:
* The total number of reported alleged (sexual offences / sexual assaults / rapes) that mention a (vape / e-cig / electronic cigarette / e-cigarette) was used as a method of (drugging / administering a drug / spiking / incapacitating) the alleged victim.
If your force does not record any of the terms specified above as a unique field but allows free-text searches of incident reports, please indicate the search words used. If any items cannot be provided, please provide as much aggregated information as you can and indicate which items are refused/absent and the reasons.
Reply
West Mercia do not use a separate field on our crime management system to record elements of the modus operandi, eg “drugs administered”. Therefore a search has been completed of the incident summary using the terms listed. The incident summaries that were returned and none included circumstances where an Vape/E Cigarette was used or believed to have been used to administer drugs/intoxicants in order to commit the alleged offence. This is therefore a Nil Return