Drug crimes have changed compared to in the past. It’s not always illegal substances such as marijuana and cocaine that are at the center of a possession or trafficking case. With the rise in prescription drug use in recent decades, there’s been a rise in drug crimes related to prescription drugs.
And while many of us might think of Walgreens simply as the place where we get our last-minute needs for the day, a Colorado report indicates that Walgreens is now a place set to decrease the chance of pharmacy robberies. One Colorado drug theft suspect was caught this week due to a new system that Walgreens has in place.
Walgreens Company has new theft prevention tools installed in its pharmacies that are meant to keep thieves from trying to take high-level prescription drugs. The tools are basically timed safes. The prescription drugs are kept in the safes and the safes won’t open right away. That delay is meant to deter thieves from putting themselves at risk of arrest for the several minutes it takes to get the drugs out of the safe.
Colorado reports indicate that the tactic has landed at least one man under arrest who allegedly attempted to get drugs out of a Walgreens pharmacy in Colorado Springs earlier this week. Sources suggest that the suspect has been involved in various similar thefts involving prescription drugs.
If this crime prevention tactic proves to decrease the rate of high-level drug theft among Walgreens, then it wouldn’t be surprising to see these safes spread into other big pharmacies in Colorado and throughout the country.
Source
9news.com: “Catching pharmaceutical thieves red-handed,” Blair Shiff, Feb. 28, 2012