Ugh. This sucks and I'm sorry you lost your things. At least here in Texas, if they find your goods, no matter where they are, they'll be returned to you. Stolen gear is stolen gear in Texas no matter how many hands it passes through, and will still belong to you. 
 
The gangs are actually targeting musicians here, so it's best to keep an eye on everything however you can. 
 
http://www.savingcountrym...0-arrested-in-houston/

Beagle
...unfortunately my 22 pound "miniature pinscher" who is a little large for a MIN-PIN, ...

You have a 22 pound MIN-PIN??! 
 
Wow...  My friend has two, the three year old female's probably about six pounds and the male, a six-week old puppy (with some seriously cool attitude) is mere ounces and about the size of a large shoe.  He can, however, jump over twice his height straight up though! 

I hate to mention it, but have you checked your becan stash? I mean, the value of the gear may pale in comparison to the replacement cost of the becan.
 
Does your insurance company recognize the financial impact caused by psychological trauma due to Becan Deprivation? If so, who is your agent? I may have to make a call...

craigb
*Pfft...*  Beagle's becan is secured inside a vault that's hidden underground and protected by armed guards and other security measures (don't ask how I know).
 
I bet he still said some was stolen though. 

EXACTLY! 
 
WAIT...how DID you know????

Don't mess with Texas!
 
J

The sad fact is that property crimes are rampant, with reports coming in too fast for the police to keep up. They told me that here they get 20 reports per day. And I live in a small city of only 100,000 people. Extrapolate that to a city the size of Dallas/Ft. Worth and it's probably hundreds per day. Now imagine what it's like in less-wealthy cities such as Detroit or Washington, D.C. (in Detroit your odds of being a property crime victim are 1 in 5).
 
Here's a list of the cities with the highest rate of property crimes, which you may find surprising. Some of the worst cities are places with a pretty good reputation for being a nice place to live (Seattle, Portland, Orlando, San Francisco) while contrary to their portrayals in the movies, New York City and Las Vegas are actually very low on the list.
 

Hmm...  I may have been robbed too!  I can't seem to find any becan in the fridge...  

Guys
Can I offer a little advice - I own a Security Company in South Africa where we have high levels of crime (50 murders a day, 200 rapes a day - I could go on)  and believe me if you think the Police in the US are either useless or overwhelmed, you ought to see the SA Police - in many instances its THEM doing the breaking in!!
On a previous post I mentioned what I have on my house. I have that as I can and its free to me,  sort of thing.
But in most instances if someone REALLY wants to break into your place, not much will stop them.
 
HOWEVER an enormously high percentage of break-ins in particular, are opportunist crimes.
SO Visible deterrents (which are there to be seen) work best.
Window bars - can be the latest see through unbreakable plastic type work really well - as do door security trelli slam shut door gates  - also on patio doors. These are pretty cheap and highly effective.
Dummy cameras work really well and sometimes, particularly if your Police Force is not up to much, work as good as standard static CCTV - well unless you want and sit and watch the monitors all day - even if you get good pictures of the criminals, the police normally say that its no good for a prosecution (way too much work and anyway might be their cousin or something here in SA!!)
And of course a standard pretty simple  alarm with a VERY loud horn / bell etc - that normally stops any burglars staying too long.
Dogs with loud barks work great.
We also do cameras that detect movement etc night and day and send pictures straight to your mobile phone, no matter wherever you are in the World - these are the ones we pioneered to help stop Rhino Poaching and they work brilliantly. 
One of the best deterrents is of course instant response - here in Cape Town we have guaranteed 2 minute armed response - not sure if available in US - I know the armed bit is not available in the UK. They MUST be armed in Cape Town or they would soon probably be dead, but TIA as we say (This is Africa!!)
Also simple things like decent perimeter wall / fence - a gate if you can - all these things the potential burglar will see, think twice and then look round for a softer target...unfortunately in many instances its your neighbor, but well,  they should have boosted their security as well. It sometimes is a good thing to just remind them they might be a little vulnerable and they should look at their own security situation.
Neighbors who all think a little about security and all have some kind of visible deterrent, REALLY are safer - the actual area where I live, we all (bar the odd house) have improved our security over the years and because of that, so far, we have a very very low incident of crime - stronger together sort of thing. 
Hope some of this is helpful 
Cheers
Nigel
 
 

Such sucky news.  Very sorry to hear about another Cake user getting it in the ass.  I hope the cops can catch the kid. 
 
Be strong in the coming days.
 
Clint

Nigel - the police who investigated mentioned most all of those things you just did except they said to stay away from the cameras which are motion activated only because they often don't activate quickly enough and so you waste your money when a dummy camera does just as much deterrent.
 
craig (IFYRN), we have a dog but he's not a watch dog.  he's 22 pound Min-Pin (mixed?) and unless you're a squirrel or bird he would rather lick you than bark at you.  last night I told my wife that I just need to record a big Rotty or Doberman bark and put an mp3 player on our dog's collar so that when someone is breaking in the house next time, he'll go to the door, probably with a squeeky toy in his mouth, tail wagging and ready to lick the human on the other side, but the mp3 player will be barking madly in a deep "I'm gonna eat your ass" bark!  

Very glad you received a fair settlement. Hopefully, they won't crank up your rates in retaliation. 
 
Visible cameras and security alarm signs may make your house less attractive to thieves, but determined scum will break in anyway, even with a prehistoric-sounding cujo roaring on the other side of the door. It's irritating to think that you can discourage thieves, but not necessarily prevent them from hitting your house. 
 
When I had my first apartment with a friend of mine after college, we lived in an economically challenged neighborhood in Chicago. Another friend had found a mannequin while dumpster diving and they gave it to me. My roommate and i dressed it up and placed in our living room around the corner from the kitchen. A few months later, when we were both out for the day, a local gang broke in through the back door in the kitchen. I don't know, but I like to think that the first one to round the corner had a heart attack when he saw the mannequin out of the corner of his eye. It was an imaginary comfort.

Bajan Blue
stay away from the cameras which are motion activated only because they often don't activate quickly enough and so you waste your money 
 
Hi Reece
Well unfortunately the Police are wrong on this - our cameras work almost instantaneously and you get the picture through our own servers wherever you are in under 30 seconds, normally quicker dependent a little on cell service. We have thousands of these cameras out in the field (literally in the case of the ones being used re anti Rhino Poaching and Farm protection - in the case of Farm Protection normally against farm invasion which normally results in death in Africa) so they HAVE to work. 
Really glad the Insurance Company have offered a settlement so quickly - and a new TV is great news as well.
Keep well my friend
Nigel
 
 

Thanks Nigel - I'll keep that in mind while doing my research on which cameras to install!

craigb
Good to hear that you're getting some good help from your insurance.  Non-motion cameras eat up a LOT of hard drive space.

yep, I'll probably stick with motion activated but I'll try to get some that have adjustments on them.