Judicial Police launch campaign against chemical tampering of drinks in bars and academic parties
The Judicial Police launches awareness campaign on drug-facilitated sexual assault, with presence in nighttime establishments and academic parties. Detection wristbands and safety caps will be distributed.
Judicial Police tackle chemical tampering with campaign on social media and nighttime venues
The Judicial Police (PJ) launched on Tuesday an awareness campaign on the adulteration of drinks with chemical substances, entitled The false chemistry that makes you the victim of the party. The announcement was made in Coimbra by the national director of the PJ, Carlos Cabreiro, during the opening session of the conference "Investigation and Synergies: Integrated Cooperation in Sexual Crime Investigation".
According to Observador, the campaign has two defined target audiences: victims and aggressors. Carlos Cabreiro explained that the main objectives are to "deter risk behaviours related to the consumption of illicit substances, alert to the manipulated composition of synthetic drugs and discourage the purchase of drugs online".
The communication strategy was described by the national director as direct and "jovial", designed to reach the most exposed groups. The campaign unfolds on two fronts: online, through social media, and in-person, with the presence of the PJ in nighttime entertainment establishments and academic parties. In a second phase, scheduled for summer, the initiative may extend to music festivals.
During in-person visits, the PJ plans to distribute practical awareness material, namely safety caps to place on glasses — making open access to the drink more difficult — and wristbands that change colour if the drink has been adulterated. Carlos Cabreiro stressed that these materials aim to complement the supervision of alcoholic beverages "in future moments".
In the medium and long term, the PJ intends to increase literacy on drug-facilitated sexual assault and achieve "the reduction of cases associated with this type of criminality", according to Cabreiro.
The national director also used the conference to emphasise the need for cooperation between the different entities intervening in the field, considering that combating sexual crimes requires "an integrated and multidisciplinary response, centred on the protection of victims and criminal prevention".
The conference in Coimbra is part of the commemorations of the 81st anniversary of the Judicial Police and has as its central themes the current challenges of sexual crime investigation, the constraints of the Public Prosecutor's Office during the inquiry and trial phases, and the role of the PJ in this field.
Source: Observador