To be honest I bet most criminals are just too lazy to travel anywhere and are more likely to rip off the guy down the street.

In the case of a professional burglar you're probably right although they are also likely to be very selective about which house they will hit.

As for me. I lock everything even if I don't think I need to. I even keep the car doors locked inside the locked garage, and the door from the garage to the house locked. I never leave anything in my car if I can possibly avoid it and always lock it.
I do think things are relatively safe but why make things easy? It isn't as if it costs anything to lock a door.

I grabbed my work and ran this morning, as I am getting through my day I realize my last stop is off MLK Blvd, in North West Palm Beach or Riviera Beach. We have to lock the truck up tight just to walk to the backyard for 2 minutes.

This is the house I was surveying:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1217264600.jpg

Sliding Glass doors have bars over them with thick chain and padlock:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1217264742.jpg

The inside of every window that was exposed had this "screening" / bars in them:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1217264794.jpg

See the Hurricane shutters? There is no Hurricane coming and this house is being lived in every day (rental) lets look closer.......

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1217264854.jpg


They have all the lag bolts tightened with nuts rather than wing nuts, these shutters are on 365 days a year.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1217264962.jpg

What a sad way to live. Everything in the backyard was chained. Ladders on the fence had chains and padlocks. Gas cans on the side of house were chained together and to the house. There was a above ground pool and it looks like someone stole the skimmer and filter off of it.

I think most professional burglars are smart enough to case the house, and enter when you are not home. The real scary ones are the home invasions, done by amateurs in need of cash for their next crack fix.

My grandparents had their house broken into, the thief waited until they were both gone then threw a porch chair through their sliding glass door. He shook down the house pretty good, but only bothered with some expensive jewlery. TV, etc was all still there.

Not on purpose but yes sometimes. I once left the garage door open, free access to my tools and home, for an entire weekend with me gone. No problemo. This in *dangerous* SoCal...god I need a gun eh...

My front door is open right now. I forget to lock it when I come home from time to time.

Random 'dumb' luck should not be misconstrued as safety. ;)

My neighbor that used to live across the street never closed his garage door, his garage was a sort of extra room for him, he sat int here and smoked all the time. The only time the garage door was closed was when they were not home. Otherwise it was open 24 hours a day.

BTW- He passed away from lung cancer in his 50's. I called him the mayor because he just sat int he garage every evening and all weekend smoking and watching the goings on in the neighborhood.

When we evacuated for one of the hurricanes I was talking to him and he said he was staying in his house, I asked him to keep an eye on my place and he responded that he just picked up a bunch of fresh ammo. I liked him he was a cool guy.