Break ins

I just had a home security system installed last week. It might be cheaper than you think, especially if you don't get every single bell and whistle. I get employee pricing so it was a no-brainer for me, but I was genuinely surprised at how low the customer rate is. One of the coolest features I love is the lighting automation - I can turn on and off my main living room lamp from anywhere in the world on my phone. Makes it look like you're home if you do it at random times.

Not saying to run out and get one, but I sure felt better when my dog got spooked at 3 a.m. this morning. 

Other ideas:
Spend a lot of time in your front yard.
Host a neighborhood watch BBQ - get to know your neighbors and have their cell numbers on-hand.
Invest in good perimeter lighting and locks.

You need to talk to Tuwood about security!

The last time I was robbed I was on vacation.  Same thing, where a few houses had been broken into on several occassions.  One thing that it seems your neighborhood is already doing is getting the word out.  I wish someone had notified everyone that there had been some break ins in our hood. 

I have a dog so a security system would be a bit of a PITA right now.  When he's gone I am definitely looking into one.  I did add motion sensors to all the lights outside.  From what I could tell the guys who robbed us spent a bit of time going around the outside of the house, slashed all the windows trying to open them.  That's not really going to help you during the day.

So, there are two ways you have to think about this.

1. "what if" they come to your house or attempt to break in when you or a family member is home.  What do you do?  The standard response is to ignore the front door, or pretend you're not home but as I'm sure you've seen many news stories I think this is generally a bad idea.  Most (if not all) burglars will only break into an empty home, so they will come up to the door and ring the doorbell/knock pretending to ask for something stupid or whatever.  If you answer the door, they move on to somewhere else.  If you don't answer the door, then they think the house is empty and proceed to break in.  Then you find yourself hiding under the bed talking on the phone to your Dad as they drag you away by you're feet, and you're Dad has to tell them... "I will find you, and I will Kill you"  etc...
So, I recommend talking to everyone in the family to go through what they should do if a stranger comes to the door, so they're prepared.
Depending on the level of preparedness you want, you can also talk to your significant other about what level you want to be able to defend your house if necessary as well.  Do you put pepper spray by the front door, a bat, a rocket launcher etc.  It's highly unlikely that you won't need anything like that, but I'm a big proponent of having and not needing versus needing and not having.  

2. The other part is if they come to your home and you are not home.  As mentioned a security system is a great deterrent, and video cameras are great as well.  You may not stop the crime, but you have a good chance of minimizing how long they're there with a security system and likely catching them if you have video.
With my video camera's I get an email alert with a picture from any motion that's detected from the camera's around my house.  Any time anyone comes to the front door I know within seconds.  It's very handy and my kids HATE IT, which makes it even better.  

The most important thing is don't let it freak you out too much.  Despite what you see on TV, the vast majority of criminals are stupid, incompetent, and scared to death of getting caught.  The last thing in the world they want to do is have an encounter with you or anyone in your family.

The neighborhood may actually be going a bit over the top. We have a neighborhood facebook page and they are reporting ANYONE they don't know, even 2 guys just out going for a walk!

We are used to leaving the garage unlocked with the keys in the van and my purse laying on the seat so it is a whole new ballgame for me to actually start locking things up!

lol, thanks.  

Yeah, I did forget the best alarm system on the market which is the Dog.  Even the little ankle biters are great for letting you know somebodies there and can deter people from breaking in due to the noise.  

If you want to get hard core, you can get a Bullmastif which will likely result in a pee stain by the door and burnt rubber marks on the ground from his shoes as he's doing the scooby doo run trying to get away.

Here's the news story from a burglar I caught on our street.  It wasn't my house that was burglarized, but the police were able to get enough identifying info from my camera's to catch him. Similar to what you have going on, these guys had been hitting a bunch of houses in our area.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzSVPIbV3fE

my car has been broken into in my neighborhood twice.  both times were days that i had forgotten to lock my car.  my neighborhood has a serial problem with this.  burglars have figured out that people in your neighborhood probably do the same thing as you - leave your garage unlocked, leave keys and purses accessible, etc - just stop doing that.  so simple.

Heroin zombies.

The answer is as simple as legalizing drugs and making it easy for addicts to get them.  It's hard to support a $2-300.00 dollar per day heroin or meth habit and keep a job.....so they steal.  Virtually ALL of our property crimes can be tied to drug addiction.

But yeah, lock your stuff up.  The last thing I do before bed is walk around my house, check the car doors, windows, etc.  Mehaner's point is very valid....they're not trying to make a lot of noise, so unlocked is the deal for them.  The other deal is NEVER leave anything of value in plain sight in a car.  You're asking for it to be stolen.

Yes locked everything up last night and I guess I need to leave it this way all day? My son needed something out of the van this morning and he was wondering why in the world the van was locked. So told him people have been breaking in peoples homes and stealing stuff. His first concern - will they steal my stuffed animals. Umm, no. But please leave them laying around all over the house like you usually do and they are sure to trip up the criminals like they do me all day long.......

One more question - is it better to keep Fido in the garage at night or in the house? Is one more of a deterrent? Like he will hear more things if he is in the garage but then if someone tries to come in through the front door he is outside. I am over thinking this I am sure .

Over the top may not be a bad thing.  I live in a fairly quiet town just outside Phila.  Pretty much everyone in my neighborhood knows everyone in some manner.  It's stopped break ins in the past just by people noticing and reporting strange behavior.  I don't use Facebook so not sure how it would work with reporting things.  I'd try to have some type of understanding with my neighborhors that someone driving up and down the street slowly will get reported to police or they'd take down the plate number.   I was at a friends house whose neighborhood had some break ins.  I was getting their mail while they were away and saw a neighbor walk up behind my car and write down the number.  Which we had a good laugh at because we both agreed most burglars probably don't get out of a new car wearing a suit to break into someone's house.  Maybe not a bad disguise though.

One other thing you can do to protect yourself is not leave valuables(like jewelry) out or in normal places.  If there's things you would be devastated to lose hide them in strange places, linen closets and such.  It stinks to have to do it but again lesson learned.  Most of the stuff we lost was irreplaceable.

I have used my indoor video camera almost solely to watch my dog during the day. So, there's that too

On the other hand, we have a multi-use path parking lot that is covered in glass from people's cars being broke into.  Mostly folks who leave their purse, wallet, etc. in plain site, but sometimes every car gets broke into and rifled through.  When we use that path I leave all the windows down and the vehicle unlocked.  I don't want someone breaking out a window when I don't have anything toi steal in the vehicle.....they can just go look.

When our house was broken into they smashed in the back door.  Summer time and hot so air conditioners on and neighbors windows shut.  I'd normally have windows unlocked but at my wifes behest I locked the joint up tight.  All the back first floor windows screens slashed and door/frame demolished.  I still joke that I should've left the windows unlocked.

Paranoid are we???

Been waiting a long time for that opening.

If we ever have kids I will require a setup like this. Sounds like lots o fun! 

Yeah, all bets are off for houses.  If someone wants in your house, they get in your house.  We work burglaries at locked homes, unlocked homes, homes with alarms, homes with cameras, blah,blah,blah.  The best deterrent, as others have said, is to call the Police when you see something that doesn't look right, like the car cruising up and down the street a few times slowly.  For your house, buy a BIG safe......like a floor gun safe.  Nobody is breaking into that and it can't be barried out of your home.  Keep all your valuables in there.  A decent one costs ~1000.00......really cheap piece of mind. 

Nah, I'm just lookiing for an opportunity to shoot a burglar.

Be sure to get it on video when you do!

Agreed.  I've looked into safes and when we put an addition on it's part of the design to have room for one in the basement. 

Yes, get to know your neighbors. There was a crime ring going on down here in Louisiana where these guys would rent a moving truck, dress in official looking clothes that professional movers would wear, and then they'd go to a house when the knew nobody was home and take everything out in plain sight, making it look like the owners were just in the process of moving. Nobody looked twice. They finally got caught when a neighbor saw these "movers" and said to themselves, "wait, they didn't say anything about moving???" and called the police. Busssssted. It's amazing they got away with it as long as they did.

We have neighborhood BBQ block party every summer but with the area growing quickly it is hard to keep up with all the new faces. Last year one of those door to door book sales guys was going around - there was practically a lynch mob after him. People in our neighborhood called the cops after him. I actually felt a little sorry for him!

lol, I do the exact same thing.  We've got a popular lake here in West Omaha that is covered with glass and I always leave it unlocked with the windows down.

My dashcam also acts as a security camera that records any motion/audio, so when I'm in a high risk area like that I'll back into the spot so I can capture the culprit's car (assuming he's driving).