Pharmacies becoming an easy target

Viewpoint

Prescription medicines can provide a quick, cost free and in many cases easy fix for those desperate enough to turn to violence to get what they want

April 23 2022 07:00 AM

New research has revealed the shocking level of violence being faced by pharmacists and their staff on a daily basis.

Physical force, blunt instruments and even knives are being used by those who are seeing community pharmacies more and more as an easy target.

But Northern Ireland is actually setting a new benchmark in crime prevention. It remains the only jurisdiction to provide funding for additional security measures. The figures would likely be even higher without that intervention.

Violent incidents involving pharmacies accounted for 18.1% of all those reported in England and a staggering 20.5% of all pharmacy crimes reported in Wales in 2021. It all points to the even darker growing spectre and the growing problem of drugs on our streets.

Violent crime against pharmacy staff almost doubles in three years

Prescription medicines can provide a quick, cost free and in many cases easy fix for those desperate enough to turn to violence to get what they want.

Though we’d hate to think that panic buttons, CCTV being installed at every pharmacy in every community, and body cams have become as much a part of the pharmacist’s uniform as the white coats, society is sadly heading that way.

In one incident a Belfast pharmacist said it was protective Covid screens that prevented him from more serious injury and the intruder from having his pick of some valuable and potent prescription drugs which other people may have been relying on.

Pharmacies also seem to be an easy target for shoplifters. England, Wales and Northern Ireland endured a staggering 12,422 incidents of theft between 2019 and 2021.

Even though Northern Ireland is making great strides, and for once is ahead of the curve in the UK in trying to tackle the growing problem, it’s only holding back the increasingly forceful tide.

Will prescription drugs soon be delivered by armoured vans, and dispensed from behind bullet proof screens? It’s sad to think society could have stooped so low for us to be even thinking about that.