Armed robberies continue to be prevalent in community pharmacies. While pharmacy teams can take measures to help prevent robberies, there are also steps you can take to help police in the event of a robbery at your pharmacy.
Calgary Police Service recommends that pharmacy teams attach labels to the bottom of containers with narcotics and other targeted substances. The labels should be site-specific and unique to the pharmacy. If labels are not an option, police suggest even writing the name of your pharmacy on the bottom of the containers with a felt marker (e.g., Sharpie).
Attaching a label to targeted products helps police with their investigations in the event the stolen drugs are recovered. Knowing where the drugs were stolen from assists the police a great deal in successfully convicting the offenders.
Another option is the use of GPS tracking devices. These concealed trackers can also be applied to containers that are the target of robberies and can allow authorities to track the robbers in real time. Commercially available tracking devices can be found by conducting a Google search using the following search terms: GPS tracking security pharmaceuticals.
For more tips on how to prevent robberies, and what to do during and after a robbery, please visit the Pharmacy Robberies and Burglaries section of the ACP website. In that section, you’ll also find a tool you can use to voluntarily report robberies and burglaries to the college. This will allow ACP to securely share information with your colleagues that could help them prevent future events. The information collected may help the college with future policy decisions.
