I'm sorry to hear this, but I'm confused, Glenda. Were both you and your friend robbed? I'm bad about not arming the system when I'm home. It is always armed when I leave the house however.

Our alarm system is always on when we are away from the house, as well as when I am here but Hubs is not (e.g., when he's playing golf, etc.). And, it's also often on when we're both at home. No sense in having it if it's not going to be used.

I think that we can assume that the last paragraph of Glenda's post was copied from her friends' text or email.

For those of you who have security systems, don't you use it? Or do you just turn it on when you're leaving town for a few days?

We've discussed having an alarm system installed.

My step-sisters house was broken into just 2 days ago. Also, her neighbor across the street, their home was broken into within the same time span. Neither of them were home and both had Amazon boxes on their porch. The detective said they think the boxes were the indicators to the thieves that no one was home. He also said that a camera system was a better deterrent than an just an alarm.

Was sharing what happened to friend.

When living in a home, in a small community, you could call the police dept and tell them the take you were traveling and they would put you on their patrol list.

You had to tell them the cars that would be parked in the drive way, inside/outside lights on or off, etc.

Always called them when you arrived home, so they would take you off their patrol list.

We've had some robbery in our subdiv and the culprits were punk teens who were neighbors children! The boys hung with a shady crowd and robbed electronics and tools from neighborhoods where they lived. Suggest police start their investigation along those lines. Also Ck closest pawn shop(s). In my case, teens were lazy and didn't work hard at covering their tracks but do Ck pawn shops soon as it appears they pawn stuff within 24 hrs of crime so they can buy drugs

As a reminder. Always lock your doors when you are working around the yard. Easy for the bad guys to see husband cutting grass, wife playing with the garden. No one thinking about someone ransacking the house. A shame it is an issue that we need to consider daily.

You feel so violated! I have (knocking on wood) never had my house robbed, but have had cars stolen... horrible sinking feeling. I don't have a security system and live alone in a "nice" neighborhood. I KNOW that doesn't matter, but I don't feel compelled to lock the world out and myself in all the time. I just hope that IF it ever happens, I'm NOT at home. Also hoping potential burglar is NOT pissed off because there's NOTHING worth stealing.

There is a security system installed in this house, says Home Guard on the controls. In the three years we've been here, I've never looked into having it activated, and the woman who owned this house the 5 years previous to us (lost her husband just weeks after they bought the house) had never subscribed to the service either.

The neighbor across the street told me at one time it was somehow tied into his, if the alarm was disabled at either house it alerted at the other. He's had a break-in, none here ever. His system now a little quirky, either it or the fire alert will go off for no reason and he's had both worked on a few times since we've lived here. They've been gone since before Christmas and have called us twice to tell us their phones are signaling fire or opened door - when nothing has been disturbed or amiss.

Maybe I'll looked into subscribing to ours again, so far we've been gone so little, just a couple of nights here and there. And, so many family and friends have keys or code to garage door and are coming and going, we'd have to hold a class and instruct everyone on the alarm steps....this is a very casual household ;) And well insured.

Some insurance companies give discounts on homeowner's insurance if one has an alarm system.

We use it if we go out and at night. It's just a habit.

One thing that did happen years ago: we had a bell inside the house as well as outside. One evening when I was peacefully watching TV, there was a failure of the system and the alarm was triggered. The bell was so loud it nearly gave me a heart attack (I'm not kidding either!). We took the interior bell out.

Rhizo posted this: "For those of you who have security systems, don't you use it? Or do you just turn it on when you're leaving town for a few days?"

Three hours earlier, I had posted this: "Our alarm system is always on when we are away from the house, as well as when I am here but Hubs is not (e.g., when he's playing golf, etc.). And, it's also often on when we're both at home. No sense in having it if it's not going to be used."

There are some folks who have an alarm system who turn it on only when they are away from the house. If they're home, the system is off. I just do not understand that way of thinking, especially overnight. If you're asleep in the middle of the night and someone breaks in, wouldn't you want to know (so you could quickly dial 911)? If your system is monitored, the company doing the monitoring will call law enforcement if you don't enter the deactivation code within a specified amount of time. The company that monitors ours will call us, and if we don't give the correct code word (or if we give them a specific distress code word), they'll call the police.

And if someone were lurking outside and forced their way in with us when we came in, we would enter a specific code on the keypad and that would notify the monitoring company to call the police.

Our system is set so that even when it isn't "armed," if a door to/from the outside is opened, the system beeps to notify us. I really like that feature.

My sister and brother-in-law"s house has an alarm system, but it isn't monitored. That makes no sense to me at all. If they're away from the house and someone breaks in, the cops wouldn't be notified, so what good does it do?

Yeah, we pay a monthly monitoring fee, and every two years we have to pay a fee to the County for the alarm permit, but the peace of mind is worth it.

Robbers know it takes "x" amount of time for the police to arrive. So, an alarm will not necessarily deter a break-in if someone has staked out your particular house for whatever reason.

We installed one when our dog passed away. When in use, it is good to know that your house is safe to enter. No surprises.

Now, we have another dog that barks whenever anyone is within 50 feet of our property. We haven't used the system in the past five years.

I do not have one....if a thief is good, he can be in and out before the police have time to get there.

Not in our neighbor's case, Lindsey. We and a few close neighbors were attending a party at a recreational center. Our neighbor who got robbed that day was alerted by the police. Our house, two doors down and houses on either side did not have alarms. Why they decided to risk an alarm and not go for a house on either side that did not have an alarm is anyone's guess.

Our police will only respond if there is validation of a crime in progress due to all the false alarms. Even with video feed and a connection to a service by the time the company checks it and reports it to the police the perps are long gone. Video doesn't offer much since often the perps are gangs from out of town and are juveniles with no real records. Even if an arrest is made video is vary unreliable to get a conviction.

So I don't bother. I trust myself and my dogs to be all the security we need. I may put my current pup into shutzhund training when she's older. She has a good stable personality along with other qualities for it. That may become her "job".

We also live at the end of a cul de sac with only one way in and one way out. Our surrounding neighbors have dogs so they would fence jump at their own risk. Plus several of us live random lives with no real schedule to watch for.

I track stuff via a Nextdoor group.

The open ended streets seem to get more break ins. Also they had built neighborhood parks that are now used for get away zones and hangouts for punks. A lot of the homes targeted are also Asian since many are know to keep cash and valuables in their homes more so than some other cultures.

Recently another guy got shot in his driveway when he came home unexpectedly. The side of the story the media didn't print was that he'd been bragging about his gun collection on Facebook. Well duh.

In my county you pay the police department to register your alarm system and they will allow a small number of false alarms. If you don't register your system and you get a false alarm, you have to pay a $200 false alarm penalty. It has been effective since it hits the pocketbook.

I always arm my system when I leave the house, but I don't arm it (motion off) when I am home. The dogs need access to outside, and that door has a sensor. Too much trouble to "alarm off" every time the dogs want to go out. My "four-legged" alarms would go off before any kind of electronic one, so I feel mostly safe.

Police will tell you a barking dog is the best deterrent. However, since I have two yappy little dogs on one side of us, plus we travel regularly, having pets is not an option.

We have an alarm system. We use it faithfully, whether in home or not. Our neighborhood has gentrified to the point where thieves travel across town to rob homes and pedestrians.

Having lived all my life in big cities, having an alarm (and using it) doesn't seem strange or unusual to me. Crime happens. I prefer casual crimes of burglary to "hard crimes" of murder and drive-by shootings.

In our area, most crime happens in the flatlands. Once you're in the hills, the crime rate lessens. But definitely, at ALL times it pays to be aware of your surroundings.

Some folks have paid for private security firms to patrol. We participated in one meeting to discuss it, but saw no real value in it for us. It has, however, worked for other neighborhoods that have higher rates of crime. There is, however, the issue of homeowner liability vs security company liability, something very few of these homeowners have actually studied properly.

We have all the so-called deterrents on my street. The street is a cul-de-sac, loaded with dogs and nosy neighbors. So far in the past couple of years four houses have been burglarized and cars broken into. In fact, one house had the dog home when it was burglarized. He is a big, intimidating dog, but I that didn't stop the crooks. The crooks are smart enough to know they have several minutes to get in, grab stuff and get out before the alarm company alerts the police. You still should use your alarm every time you go out, but it is not a fail-safe deterrent. I hope everyone's home stays safe!

Friend that was robbed live in a cul de sac, They are big time travelers,and recently became travel agents. Someone knows them, and their traveling.

But, Glenda, you said in your original post that they were "in town," so knowing how often they travel didn't seem to have anything to do with it.

Now that I'm widowed, and have moved to town (always been in the country), I have an alarm system. My poodle is also very protective and easily alarmed!

I installed a camera, front and back, too.

There have been daytime break-ins in my neighborhood; and, an invasion while someone was at home across the street -- before I moved here.

I've had one false alarm already, so had to register.

When I leave, and my dog is at home, I activate the "stay" rather than the "away" alarm because I just don't trust the motion detector won't be activated by my miniature poodle.

As for locking the door when outside -- I have a keypad deadbolt on one door so I can walk the dog or work in the yard without carrying a key.

Lindsey, I meant that they travel often, and recently became travel agents. They are in town and were in town at the time of the robbery. My thinking is someone knows their comings and goings when in town and when out of town.

Hope I said this correctly :o)

There's a big difference between being "robbed" and being burglarized. Robberies are generally strangers, while burglars often know the people and/or their activities, or the neighborhood. Alarms are effective at giving people peace of mind but, as shown, people think that you don't have to USE the alarm for it to be effective. And that, isn't true.

Dogs CAN be helpful to burglars, but to a robber they'll generally just kill the dog. A serious burglar often brings a piece of meat or some treat to quiet the dog.

People unfortunately set themselves up to be robbery or burglary victims all too often. Walking around with lots of jewelry, expensive clothes, fancy cars just entice a robbery so caution is required but people expect to never be a victim since it only happens in a "bad" neighborhood or to the other person. People leave expensive electronics in plain sight, post everything about their lives on Facebook or other social media, "tweet" that they will be gone for three days and wonder why they got burglarized! Add in all the privacy fences and landscaping to hide behind makes it easier for burglars. Robbers don't care. People will sit in the back yard, mow, work in the garden and leave the front door open for anyone to just walk in and help themselves to what they want. Purses, keys, wallets, computers, televisions, etc, all in easy reach to walk out the front door while people are in the back yard. Of course the alarm is off since they're right there. Alarms don't work when they're shut off.

Then the alarm itself. People seldom have personal alarms for robberies. As said, it's well known that alarms take quite a while for a police response. Neighbors more often than not ignore activities, usually because they don't know the neighbors. Clanging alarms are a thing of the past it seems, since it's like the infamous car alarms that keep going off and only annoy people since most are false alarms.

A large number of burglaries happen when people are at home. Obviously a robbery requires someone to be at home, can't happen when they're away! People leave garage doors open or leave garage door openers in cars sitting in the driveway and that's an easy target. Plus there's the opener code devices that burglars use just driving down the street. My neighbor was a victim of such a burglary.

There's also the false sense of security of having a sign up saying they have an alarm system. Even when they do, obviously most people stop turning them on after a couple of months so alarms are seldom activated. This actually invites the burglary when people are at home. Decades of involvement in crime prevention still makes me shake my head at what people do and don't do.

"There's a big difference between being "robbed" and being burglarized. Robberies are generally strangers, while burglars often know the people and/or their activities, or the neighborhood."

Not exactly.

A robbery is when something is taken from you by force, or by threat of force. Burglary is when someone enters a building (could be a home or an office structure, store, etc.) with the intent of committing a crime. The crime isn't always theft or robbery (it could be vandalism, murder, etc.).

You can be robbed by a stranger or by someone you know. You can be burglarized by a stranger or by someone you know.

No matter the wording of being robbed or burglarized, my friends lost their valuables, and are upset over their invasion of their home. Cannot imagine the feeling of being invaded.