String of recent pharmacy robberies leads to search for solutions
Some Waterloo region pharmacists are renewing calls for better protection after numerous pharmacies have been the target of thieves.
Recently, Waterloo regional police charged three Brampton residents in connection to two recent pharmacy robberies in Waterloo region.
According to Waterloo regional police, in both instances, several men entered pharmacies and demanded cash and narcotics from staff.
“They just came in, pointed a gun at me and said open the pharmacy,” pharmacy owner Mairaj Naveed said his business was one of the places targeted this week. “Basically, it's not a robbery. It's an act of terrorism. Everybody was terrorized.”
The Ontario College of Pharmacists will be discussing some preventative measures at their next meeting on Dec. 12. One option is mandatory time-delayed safes. A measure that, if approved, would apply to all community pharmacies.
“If you go in to rob a pharmacy, you will have to wait anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes for that safe to open,” Jen Belcher, the VP of strategic initiatives with the Ontario Pharmacists Association, told CTV Kitchener.
Belcher said they have been effective in other provinces in reducing the rate of pharmacy robberies -- especially when paired with public awareness campaigns.
“In BC and Alberta we saw pharmacy robberies reduce by 95 per cent after the mandatory implementation of these measures,” Belcher said.
The local pharmacist we spoke to said he’s wary of what might happen if robbers are forced to wait and said it could be risky if they don’t trust you and start to panic.
The Ontario College of Pharmacists said action must be taken soon. Adding that over the course of the pandemic the rate of pharmacy robberies as well as the violence associated with those robberies, has been increasing – the association calling it “extraordinarily alarming.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.