Pharmacies report surge in shoplifting and aggressive behaviour
About nine of 10 pharmacies reported that there was an increase in theft and aggression against staff last year.
The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) said that a study of 500 pharmacies, 87% of them experienced at least one scary behavior against workers, and 22% of them were physically attacked.
Henry Gregg, the president of the body, representing more than 6,000 independent community pharmacies in the UK, called findings “terrible”.
It comes in the midst of an increase in theft reports in the wider retail sector of the UK.
A government spokesman, “NHS staff and community pharmacists against violence or harassment zero tolerance approach,” he said.
They added that more than 500 city centers were given extra neighborhood patrols aimed at preventing shop theft and related crimes.
However, Mr. Gregg said the police should do much more to deal with crimes such as theft, “he said. About three quarters of NPA, who participated in the survey, said the police felt insufficient response to criminal incidents.
Ashley Cohen, a pharmacist in Leeds, said he witnessed a “an endemic increase in guilt”.
Orum I’m not just talking about small crime, small theft, I see immoral vandalism, B BBC Breakfast said, drew attention to the examples that people believe that “ominous organized crimes that people are trying to access our dispensaries.”
In each of the two pharmacies, he counted two breaks at one night and three examples were thrown from the front window.
“Every crime in our pharmacy makes my staff feel insecure, but also stops accessing health services.”
NPA says that pharmacies tighten security, including private security guards, using body cameras and panic buttons, and establishing CCTV and safety shutters.
Some also thought of exhibiting photos of known thieves as a form of deterrence – something that Britain warned the information observer because he could break data protection laws.
However, these measures are paid by the pharmacies themselves. Mr. Cohen said faster response times from the police would provide better protection.
Last month, NUMBERS FROM THE National Statistics Office (Ons) He showed that the retailers in the UK and Wales have seen the highest levels of theft since the records began more than twenty years ago.
British retail consortium (BRC) He also found that thefts were increasingly brazen and severe theft, because they were not afraid of any consequences.
Victim Minister Alex Davies-Jones told the BBC Radio 4 to the TODAY program on Monday that theft is “out of control in England.”
When asked whether it is appropriate to display the images of known shops in places like shop windows, “We are all on all of us to be aware of what is happening in our local communities.”
Former NPA President Nick Kaye said that the examples of aggression are not always linked to theft, but after being disappointed by other parts of NHS, it is usually people entering pharmacies.
“We [community pharmacies] They are dealing with the most vulnerable ones, we are always there and we are accessible, ”he added.
The NPA warns that thieves can harm them or others by using a stolen prescription drug.
