Sorry to be the voice of reasoning here guys and having been the victim of a burglary with 3 guys in my house nicking stuff while I was asleep upstairs with my ex, I thought the same afterwards. Reality check-you are asleep (in whatever dress state/naked etc) and they are in a strangers house committing a crime! They are already in full on adrenaline mode and massively on edge. You...are not! Chances are they'll be armed with whatever (blades/tools they used to force entry etc), they may be on drugs, whatever. They are fully awake and aware and in the top of the alertness pyramid. They won't want to be caught and are taking a huge risk doing what they're doing.However ninja you think/know you are you're on the back foot from the get go and playing catch up-big time! Your 'flash to bang' time is going to be seriously tested especially as you're asleep! Best case scenario is they do a runner-try stopping them/barring their exit and you're in for the fight of your life...dressed however you go to bed. They do NOT want to get caught and will do anything they can to escape. Leave it to the movies guys as that's where it works. It ain't going to happen. Dial three 9's (as any copper worth his salt is going to bust his ass to catch a burglar in the act...they live for that stuff) and secure your family. Take action into your own hands be prepared to defend your actions in court where you will get taken apart. Reality check fellas.
As for reducing these risks:
. Take your keys, wallets, handbags to your bedroom (burglars can sometimes carry card skimming devices with them-they scan your cards and replace them and you're none the wiser-that happened to me when I got hit and they only dipped into my accounts 5 months later. Luckily I picked up on it quickly), house keys out of reach as the old classic 'fishing pole bandits' has become a re-emerging crime.
. With regards to your car-a simple measure is to fit a disclock. Fit it ALWAYS-no exceptions. The one time you leave it is the one time you'll regret that decision! Put as many barriers up as possible to deter them onto some other poor victim. If it's going to take too much time and effort they'll target someone else. Obviously if they REALLY want your car then they'll come prepared and stick it on a low loader..unlikely unless it's an on demand special car. Disklock, simple but effective.
. Adequate lighting around your house, CCTV? Unless you're monitoring it 24/7 all you're doing is recording the crime for evidential purposes! If they're worth their salt they'll wear masks/hoods so you won't get an ID.
. Decent quality Alarm-make sure its user friendly though! If it's too complex people tend to not arm them and then it's useless.
. Dogs..a legal offensive weapon with teeth. Nuff said
When I got burgled we'd been in the house 3 weeks. 2 Romanians and an Italian guy broke in through a side entrance and cleaned us out of a load of gear...didn't take the cars (2 BMW's) as that crew didn't have the capacity to shift them. As I said me and my ex were asleep upstairs and didn't know anything til around7 the next morning. Luckily they were were an experienced gang that got complacent. One of them had a fag while they were breaking in and left the butt. Bingo. DNA hit that cleared up a ton of cases...they got locked up, huge money seizure order and a deportation order. Good result.
Hope this helps sorry for the long post. No charge ;-)
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk