Rating:

3.0 (1 vote)

TUCSON - The recent rash of local pharmacy robberies has a major retailer stepping-up security.

Nearly 60 pharmacies hit across the state, including nine in a year's time in Tucson.

Starting today, Walgreens statewide is making it difficult for thieves to steal the prescription narcotics.

The company is installing time delay safes where they will keep oxycodone.

Pat Marshall who is the loss prevention manager says, by installing this safe, it will take much longer for the thieves to reach the drugs and it will give police time to arrive.

"The time delay safe has already been installed in other states," Marshall says. "We used them in Washington and Colorado and our robberies have decreased significantly, 84% in those areas."

Marshall says, the robbers just don't want to wait that long for the safes to open. Marshall says they got the idea for the time delay safes from banks and some retail stores.

They also installed state of the art surveillance equipment.

In the last year, Walgreen's has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars upgrading their security system. So the time delay safe is just another tool to keep its employees and customers safe.