How To Secure A Community Pharmacy Shop

Security is one of the major challenges facing community pharmacy business in Nigeria. This includes security for lives and properties. Looking for the best way to prevent thieves from stealing stocks and money is not easy. It is expensive but yet vital. In the long run, it is cheaper.

Securing the lives of staffs and customers comes with its cost and price too. The target is usually the cashier or a rich customer that walks in.

To secure a community pharmacy from thieves requires both the use of technology and human effort. Both must be adequately employed to prevent or reduce stealing.

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The type of technology and human effort needed depends so much on the target. This is because there are different types of thieves. And they always have different desires.

What They Steal In Community Pharmacy

There are three major targets for thieves inside a community pharmacy shop. The first is the money. The target is daily sales. The second is control drugs. These drugs cost a fortune in the black market. The last is electronics such as phones and electric generators.

Stealing from a community pharmacy shop is usually done by those in the neighborhood or even an insider. Outsiders come for any of the three targets but most insiders focus is the money.

When they want to steal, they target when it is most convenient. When we talk about convenience, it is the best time to carry out the act with minimal risk. Get in and out in the shortest possible time when security personnel will not be able to get them.

Night Thief

Thief's do surveys before they strike especially those that do it at night. They must have done their survey during work hours. They will usually come and buy, see where money is kept and the process. In other cases, they come when the pharmacy is about to close to buy something. They bring high currency that will require struggling for change while using the time to check out the process of securing the shop before closing.

Another thing they do is that they act like arm robbers and observe people's reactions. They can come and shoot and run. They will station an observer that will see if anybody came out with a gun or if there is the presence of security personnel.

When they come, they are usually fast. They break in through the weak point, straight to the target and off they go.

Most night thieves are not after cash because they know most community pharmacies don't keep cash in the shop. They are after control drugs.

Control drugs are mood changers that are dispensed by a pharmacist with the prescription from a medical doctor. Most control drugs are addictive. Hence they are of high demands. Selling them in black market yields hard cash.

How To Prevent Night Thief

They avoid entrances that will delay them. Delay is dangerous. It can expose them to confrontation with security personnel. The entrance must be well secure to prevent easy access. This way, they will spend more time trying to break in.

Roll down security shutter

Since most night thief's will break in to steal, the entrance must be protected. The best way to do this is to use a roll down security shutter. This is the best door for a community pharmacy. And they must be locked every night before closing for work.

Some community pharmacies have back doors that use other types of doors that are not secure enough. These doors invalidate the use of the roll down security shutter. Because a thief will use the back door as a weak point of entry.

But if the second door is very necessary, a deadlock is the best way to go. A dead lock key is better than using padlock as they can easily be cut open using cheap tools. It does not take up to a minute to cut open a padlock no matter how original it is. And there is another way of opening those padlocks without noise. They use fire to blow it open.

What if the thief got in? There are still things that will prevent them from gaining access to what they came in for. Put all valuables in a locker. For example, keep laptops and other small valuables including control drugs in a locker that must be locked at all times after closing.

That is not all. Instead of using a laptop, use desktop computers. Install close circuit television (CCTV) in and outside the shop. Hide the monitor in a close hidden place. Best is to use an outside monitor that is not inside the store. And let it keep a record of activities for at least seven days.

Install alarm system. Use silent alarms when open and loud alarms at night. The alarm should be designed to trigger lights. And the wire of both CCTV and alarm should be hidden so that they will not know how to disconnect it. Motion sensors are another thing that aids security especially at night.

Daytime Thief

Their main target is the day's sales. They mostly come towards closing hours when the day's sales are high. Some are not very careful because it is their daily work and they move from one pharmacy to the other. They don't do much survey.

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They come wandering around the shop or outside. They use that time to survey the security of the shop and how observant the staff are. Then they strike when they are sure they will succeed. Maybe with just a knife.

How To Prevent Daytime Thief

The floor of the pharmacy should be clear at all times. Staff at all ends should be able to see all the angles of the pharmacy. The pharmacy should be open in such a way that those inside can see those wandering outside and those outside can see those inside. This can help in case there is a robbery incidence going out. Those passersby can help.

Never allow anyone to wander around the premises. May I help you is a simple question to signal to the person that he is under watch.

General Security Protocol

Talk to others in the security situation of the area. Hear about tactic bulger use and how they can be tackled.