Theives around here are pretty inventive.. The latest rash of theiveries here involve look-alike lawn crews. 3-5 guys come during broad daylight. They start weed-whacking, when they get to a window they all rev-up the machines while one puts his weed whacker through the window, concealing the noise. They have reamed the baffles on the weedwackers to make a terrible racket, and that drowns out even the loudest alarms. The one goes in, loots (and in one case beats the elderly occupant), then they leave (and your lawn is a mess to boot). In/out fast, don't look out-of-place, allow your alarm to run, and get away clean. Sounds real hard to defend against.
A previous post laments most people are concerned with "HOT" break-ins (robbery vs. burglary). I think that's a VERY worthwhile point, and wouldn't pooh-pooh it.
Call me nuts, but my main "home-security concern" as a family man is that nobody be able to enter my home without the wife or I KNOWING about it. Getting caught flat-footed or asleep is death. Since there can be no stopping them, there is only being ready for them. I want enough time to be in position to visit swift/blinding AND permanent violence upon them. Burglars are mostly loners, robbers almost always come in numbers, another reason to not play around with robbers. Thats the advantage I think a good dog or alarm can provide, i.e. a "heads-up" before somebody is physically inside.
My only *real* concern about being burgled is coming home while one is in progress...
Don't lose sight of whats really important... I like my things, but I cherish people.
Also, I do not consider laying in bed, dreaming and minding my own business, surrounded by nice people and nice stuff "entrapment" for a burglar/robber/rapist. That kind of thinking is akin to "of course she got raped, she dresses for attention"... I don't care how pretty the women or shiny the fineries in the house are, that's no excuse, and anybody from a mistaken drunk to a pro-burglar will get the very best lead-facial and most graphic post-mortem-humiliation I can possibly muster. Keeping a low profile is one thing, but re-organizing my home according to what might be visible from what window? No thanks... man, that gets my goat...
This IS America, and I do, after all, still have a choice.