Bars atill waiting for drink spike detectors

Western Bay bars are still waiting to hear how they can get their hands on gear for detecting date-rape drugs in drinks - one year after they were promised the devices.
This is despite an alarming spate of complaints from Bay of Plenty women who say they have suffered memory loss and an expected surge in drugging cases during the looming summer months.
Within the past fortnight a woman was found unconscious on a path in Rotorua, a second checked herself into Rotorua Hospital and a third who lost four hours of memory after drinking at an Eastern Bay bar awoke with ripped clothing and a black eye.
The drug-detector project was headed by the Tauranga Safer Communities Trust and backed by Tauranga Police. It aimed to import the testers from Australia and sell them to women in Western Bay bars for $4.
Pubs were to be supplied with small shields to place on top of unattended drinks. But the Trust has since disbanded and no city bars contacted by the Bay Times this week were stocking the devices.
Detective Senior Sergeant Greg Turner of Tauranga police said this was a shame, as drink spiking was still evident in the community.
"In the past few weeks the police have been informed of a few spiking instances."
As always, he said, these reports were expected to rise as summer drew nearer.
Mr Turner urged victims to report any such incidents.
They needed to be tested within 12 hours to a day of taking the drug, he said.
"Some drugs are undetectable in the body after only a short period of time." Bahama Hut manager Steven Jenkins said his bar did not sell the self-test kit but he had been seeking a supplier.
In England, where Mr Jenkins hails from, such devices were common in bars and clubs.
"Back home they are called a swizzle-straw. The straw changes colour when it comes into contact with a drugged substance."
Just last week, he said, "I made a few inquires as to whether such a thing was heard of in New Zealand."
Despite numerous phone calls, he came up empty-handed.
The kit was to have been sourced from Australian firm Drink Safe Technologies.
The firm's website said many date rape drugs had no taste, smell or colour. Some 4500 Australians a year had their drinks spiked, of whom 1800 were sexually assaulted.
About 10 per cent of victims are male.
Coyote bar manager Joshua Golding said he had seen a date-rape detector and knew how it worked.
His bar had been operating in Tauranga for just seven months and he had not heard of the project to get testing kits into bars.
However, he did support the idea.
Harringtons club manager Darren Hood was also unaware of the year-old plan. The managers of all three bars said they had to resort to their own measures to deal with potential drink spikers. The Western Bay's police area commander, Murray Lewis, said the dissolving of the Trust meant the testing scheme was no longer being organised.
"My guess is that nothing is going to happen. It is not a project the police will pick up."
The Tauranga City Council spokesperson for matters concerning the trust could not be reached for comment.