CVS Health rolls out time-delay safes in Illinois
As part of an ongoing commitment to support law enforcement and help build safer communities, CVS Health announced the completed installation of time-delay safe technology in all 392 Illinois CVS Pharmacy locations, including those in Target stores.
The safes are anticipated to help prevent pharmacy robberies and the potential for associated diversion of controlled substance medications — including opioid medications such as oxycodone and hydrocodone — by electronically delaying the time it takes for pharmacy employees to open the safe.
The company’s rollout of time delay safes in the state supports Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s new Organized Retail Crime Task Force, which was designed to foster cooperation among retailers, online marketplaces, law enforcement agencies and state attorneys general dedicated to targeting organized retail crime enterprises.
[Read more: CVS Health completes time-delay safe roll out in Texas]
“Opioid addiction has destroyed lives throughout Illinois, and tools that prevent addictive medications from being stolen from pharmacies support our work to combat the opioid epidemic and organized retail crime,” Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said. “I formed an Organized Retail Crime Task Force to address increasing organized retail theft, which impacts businesses including CVS. Time delay safe technology will serve as a deterrent to would-be thieves, and I appreciate CVS Health taking this step to help us enhance public safety.”
The retailer first implemented time-delay safe technology in the state back in 2015 across CVS Pharmacy stores in Indianapolis. Since then, time-delay safes have been implemented across 20 states, including Illinois, and the District of Columbia, the company said.
“While our company continues to focus on moving the country one step closer to a post-pandemic world by increasing access to COVID-19 vaccines, testing and other measures to help create healthy communities, supporting law enforcement efforts in their battle against organized retail crime also remains a focus,” said Thomas Moriarty, chief policy officer and general counsel, CVS Health. “Criminal activities that organized retail crime rings fund are a clear danger to our communities, so it is important that retailers, law enforcement and political leaders work together to solve this problem. Time-delay safes can help reduce the theft and diversion of prescription medications and brings added security to our stores which creates a safe environment for our patients and colleagues.”
[Read more: CVS Health completes rollout of time-delay safes in Georgia]
The time-delay function cannot be overridden and is designed to serve as a deterrent to would-be pharmacy robbers whose goal is to enter and exit their robbery targets as quickly as possible. All CVS Pharmacy locations in Illinois display visible signage warning that time delay safes are in use to prevent on-demand access to controlled substance narcotics.