The police were called, forensics came up to dust the
place and all the investigations you would expect to
happen took place. One of the police officers who was
investigating said to me that vape-related break-ins
were on the rise, not just here on the west coast of
Scotland, but across the whole of Scotland.
If it wasn’t for the support shown by my followers and
the community as a whole, there would have been no
chance at all that ‘Vaping With Vic’ could have got back
on its feet so quick. Less than two weeks later all of the
recording equipment was replaced, including the PC
and the companies who had sent items in that were
stolen sent replacement items back in for review.
The support from vapers across not just the UK, but
also reviewers and followers in the US and across the
world was very humbling. I thought that when Mark
(TVP), Chris (Empire Vape Co) and Dean (The Devil
Vaper) started a fundraiser, enough would be raised to
at least replace one of the cameras. In the end, there
was enough to replace everything: the PC, cameras,
mics and all the other bits and pieces that were lifted
during the break-in. I would like to thank everyone who
showed support and donated.
Of course, there were the detractors. The usual
nameless, anonymous internet trolls who took the story
of the break-in and ran with it to spin their own story.
However, one of the points the trolls came up with was
a valid one: security.
The studio itself is in a full office block in the centre
of town. With cameras at the entrance and rear exits
already installed, a false sense of security settled in.
Little did I realise that the side window would be the
point of entry into the studio. This is a problem which
not just me, but actual vape shops who hold four-to-five
times more retail cost items than I do, also have. That
sense of ‘I’ll never be broken into.’ Time and time again
there have been cases of vape shops being broken
into which you see regularly on Facebook which have
no alarm and old cabled cameras, or an alarm but no
cameras at all.
In some cases, like mine, no measurable sort of security
within the actual premises. For a lot of vape shops
– and reviewers like me – who are self-employed,
“
“We all know
of at least one
shop that has
been broken
into. If you do
run a shop, don’t
become another
statistic.”
“
As some of you readers may already know, in mid-
January the studio that I do all the recording and
testing in was broken into.
this is their first time running their own company or
business. Security has to be something that’s given
serious thought. With a huge rise in vape shop break-
ins across the UK, a vape shop needs to have good,
clear cameras and some sort of alarm. We are talking
at least 720p resolution.
We all know of at least one shop that has been broken
into. If you do run a shop, don’t become another
statistic, get yourself some wireless cloud cameras to
keep an eye on your shop at night. These cameras
activate via PIR and usually send a text message if
they pick something up and upload the footage to the
cloud rather than a hard drive inside the shop. Display
your mods, or at least the expensive mods, in a locked
cabinet rather than cabinets with no locks. During
the day have two ‘old-style’ cabled cameras watching
the shop floor to record any daytime thefts that may
happen.
Most vape shop thefts are opportunistic thefts. Don’t
give them the opportunity and don’t become what I
became in January: another vape-related break-in
statistic.
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