RVCPD provides safety tips for Rx sales

In an effort to curb an increasing nationwide trend of opiate drug abuse, the Rockville Centre Police Department made rounds last week to every village pharmacy, providing instruction and tips on how to keep employees and customers safe.

Lieutenant James Vafeades and Detective Frank Marino, as a part of Secure Alert, a crime awareness program created by the RVCPD, drove to each of the six Rockville Centre pharmacies to deliver safety packets and speak with employees and owners about the various security measures they employ and how they could be improved.

“The main reason we’re doing this is we’re trying to stay a step ahead of this trend and it would be a shame if we didn’t learn the lesson from what’s happening around the country and on Long Island,” Vafeades said. “We want to bring awareness to our pharmacies so they can take the necessary precautions to prevent tragedies from occurring here.”

The Secure Alert packets that the officers gave to the pharmacies included a security checklist, as well a list of tips and statistics. The packet provides information on the typical robbery suspect, the time most burglaries occur, and which drugs are “high-priority targets,” among other facts.

According to Larry Sussman, spokesman for Davis Pharmacy in Rockville Centre and vice president of Pharmacy & Surgical, the pharmacists are very careful with the prescriptions they fill.

“We only fill what we consider legitimate prescriptions,” Sussman said. “We confirm every prescription with any possibility there might be fraud.”

Although village pharmacies have seen an increase in possible false prescriptions, burglaries have not been much of an issue.

“I haven’t been burglarized or robbed, so I feel pretty lucky about that,” said Howard Jacobson, the owner of Rockville Centre Pharmacy. “Everything is helpful. Public awareness, educating the pharmacists as to better handling security, everything that’s being done by the local police department and the county has to help the situation.”

Opiates like Oxycodone and Roxicodone are considered gateway drugs to heroin, Vafeades said.

According to Vafeades, the typical robbery suspect often wears hooded shirts, hats and sunglasses, and he suggested placing signs requiring customers to remove them when entering the pharmacy.

He added that at least one camera at eye-level is very beneficial for police to identify suspects.

“Everybody is well aware of the current situation. This has been a recurring problem for years,” Sussman said. “It’s definitely getting worse. This is not just a Long Island issue, it’s throughout the country.”