Dublin pharmacist Ann Marie Horan recounts her frightening ordeal of being held up by a man wielding a knife like it happened only yesterday.
"I relive the experience a bit each time I tell it," says Horan, who came out physically unharmed but psychologically scathed after two men burst into her Terenure, Dublin, pharmacy on a busy Saturday morning.
“They were shaking and screaming as they were shoving me and demanding a number of drugs. It was terrifying. Being held up by drug addicts is particularly dangerous because they are unpredictable and out of control,” says Horan.
Horan’s husband, mother and young children had just arrived in the pharmacy at the time. “I let out a blood-curdling yell but I managed to reach down and press the panic button which one of them saw so they left, running across the car park to their vehicle. They just got away with some money from the till,” she explains.
Gardaí arrived at the pharmacy shortly afterwards but by that stage, the getaway vehicle had been abandoned and the thieves had dispersed.
Violent robberies
Speaking about her experience 2½ years later, Horan says she still keeps her eye on the door of the pharmacy, wanting to know who is coming in at any given time. “I feel so sorry for people who are held up in their homes because that is your safe space. At least in a work environment, you are busy and not expecting to be relaxed.”
Horan represents one in every four pharmacists who experience a violent incident, according to the Irish Pharmacy Union’s (IPU) most recent crime survey.
The annual survey records crimes committed in pharmacies across the State. These range from shoplifting to violent robberies. Three out of four pharmacies have been the victim of one or more such crimes, according to the IPU figures.
Crisis levels
Daragh Connolly
, president of the IPU, says crimes against pharmacies have reached crisis levels. “The appalling level of crime should send out a strong message to the authorities that unless immediate action is taken, criminals will continue to see retail businesses, including pharmacies as an easy target,” says Connolly.
He says crimes range from theft of cosmetics and fake tan from open shelves to organised gangs targeting rural or suburban pharmacies for a range of medicines. “They come into the pharmacy in groups and two or three of them will distract staff while another one clears an entire shelf. The gardaí tell us that often they steal to pay off debts to money lenders.”
Connolly says the more violent type of crimes committed against pharmacies involve gangs who come in with a syringe, knife, gun or hatchet demanding prescription drugs such as benzodiazepines, and opiates and z-drugs such as sleeping pills. “They are more likely to come into the pharmacy when it’s open because they wouldn’t be able to find the drugs themselves in an out-of-hours raid.”
Connolly was attacked in his own pharmacy in Dungarvan, Co Waterford, a few years ago. "I was punched, kicked and spat at but I am 6ft 2in and weigh 100kg so I stood there and took it. My biggest fear was that I'd be the one in court for assault if I did anything. I still feel angry about it."
The IPU offers free counselling to pharmacists traumatised by a robbery at their premises.
“We work well together as pharmacists. It helps to talk to others who have been through it. We have tightly knit working relationships with our own staff and have goodwill from regular customers. In Dungarvan, for instance, we notify other businesses by text message if we see anything suspicious,” says Connolly.
Guidelines
There are also guidelines and protocols devised by the IPU, the Pharmaceutical Society of
Ireland
and the Garda on how to handle crimes if they arise. Security measures such as closed-circuit television and panic alarms are standard in pharmacies across Ireland.
“We also try to keep stocks of certain medicines low and take overnight deliveries but we have to balance that with patients’ needs, particularly for palliative medicines,” says Connolly.
He says he doesn’t want Irish pharmacists to work behind glass screens with security guards in the foyer as he has seen in cities such as Manchester and Liverpool. Connolly is, however, adamant that the current approach in the criminal justice system won’t deter crimes against pharmacies.
“What happens is that two or more crimes are rolled into one as sample charges to process through the courts. Some criminals then plead guilty to four lesser charges than one or two bigger charges to reduce their [potential] sentence. It is hugely frustrating for those who are victims of crime that the person isn’t accountable for that particular crime,” says Connolly.
Following on from the IPU’s most recent crime survey, Connolly is calling for tougher mandatory sentences and a more visible Garda street presence to reduce crimes against pharmacies. “The belief among criminals that they won’t be charged and the revolving door scenario in our courts for the few who are charged is giving the impression to thieves that their criminal activities will go unpunished,” says Connolly.
Respondents to the IPU survey also identified more visible policing, faster Garda response and tougher sentencing as the most effective methods to reduce crime going forwards.
Connolly says, “Criminals need to get a strong message that they will be apprehended and dealt with appropriately by the authorities, including tougher mandatory sentencing, if not the sinister and frightening pattern of crime on pharmacies with continue to the detriment of pharmacists, their staff and the local communities we serve.”
