Walgreens has not hired a security guard despite recent armed robberies. Meanwhile, stores with pharmacies and competitors of Walgreens have hired security personnel.
By Shane Harms of the Ballard News Tribune:
After asking many stores in the area to hire a security officer, a Ballard (Seattale, Wash.) woman now is urging Walgreens (5409 15th Ave N.W.) to do the same, especially after a recent armed robbery.
Janet Calkins lives four blocks from the Ballard QFC and eight blocks from the Bartell Drugs and Walgreens at 15th Avenue N.W.
Calkins said she called the Kroger Corporate office last year and urged them to get a security officer at QFC after a rash of robberies and assaults. She also said she spoke diligently with the Bartell Drugs management about hiring a guard.
In Ohio, a knife-wielding robber was shot and killed by police Monday after he allegedly took a Walgreen's employee hostage.
“These stores need security officers to protect the customers, but more importantly the staff,” said Calkins.
Calkins said guards were hired at both stores. A Bartells representative could not confirm that they hired a guard because of Calkins, nor could they even confirm they have a guard because of security disclosure issues, however the Ballard News-Tribune has observed security personnel at the store.
“They (QFC and Bartell Drugs) are doing their part but Walgreens is a problem. The employees are petrified. There’s been so many mishaps you wouldn't believe. … I would hate to see someone killed. I really think something bad is going to happen, and they don't care enough about their employees. Workers and attendants are petrified.”
The Ballard News-Tribune is still waiting on a public records request for all the incidents specific to that Walgreens location. The request was filed with SPD over three weeks ago.
Over the last few months Calkins has been asking the Walgreens management to hire a security guard, especially after last July when a suspect threatened pharmacy workers with a bat and made off with prescription narcotics.
“You have to have security in there. There’s no way around it, and I’ve been fighting tooth and nail to get it in there.”
Calkins says that she shops at that Walgreen because they carry her favorite soda, Twist, and she can’t find it anywhere else. However, she says she doesn't feel safe in or near the store. Her fear arises from what she calls the “rats” or degenerate criminals and vagrants she claims have flocked to Ballard in the last few years. Calkins has worked for a Labor Union, Local 440 for the past 11 years and also works Ballard Place. She’s also a grandmother. She says that in her over 30 years of living in Ballard, she’s never seen the crime so high.
“I can see these worms where ever they go. ... Is it me or why is it every time you look around there’s drugs being passed off by them? Little rats on a bicycles -- scummy little things is what they are, and I just can’t stand what’s happening to Ballard.”
Read the rest of the story here.
