New York Officials to Implement Pharmacy Safety Program

Officials on Long Island, N.Y., are implementing a program to safeguard pharmacies in the wake of several deadly robberies.

The Suffolk County initiative consists of training police and pharmacy personnel, increasing Crime Stoppers reward for pharmacy arrests, and raising community awareness of Operation Medicine Cabinet. That program enables parents to drop off unwanted and expired medications at a safe and secure location 24 hours a day.

A New Year’s Eve robbery at a Long Island pharmacy netted prescription painkillers and cash and left a robber and a federal agent shot dead. In June, four died in another Long Island pharmacy robbery in which 11,000 hydrocodone pills were stolen.