CVS Health on Thursday announced they completed the rollout of time delay safes at all of their 140 CVS Pharmacy locations in Minnesota, including Target stores. Safes will hold opioid medications such as oxycodone and hydrocodone, which are often targets of pharmacy robberies.
The announcement came at a CVS store in St. Paul. CVS Pharmacy District leader, Ashlee Slocum, described the technology.
"We use a code on the safe and that's what initiates the time mechanism," Slocum said. "Once that time delay is completed, a pharmacist can access the safe."
The company believes the safes will reduces pharmacy robberies where criminals often target opioid medication. In 2015, the CVS saw a 70 perecent decrease in robberies at their Indianapolis stores where the technology was implemented.
Ramsey County Attorney John Choi believes the safes will work.
"Criminals won't be able to get out of the store with what they wanted because of the time delay," Choi said. "This would be a bad place for anybody to think about doing a robbery."
