Some skullduggery going on at my apartment.

[SheilaT]

18. I hope all your precautions are

very effective. Do follow the advice to get a very good lock.

However, I personally use another form of burglar-proofing. My housekeeping is such that any potential burglar who got inside would just look around and say, "Damn! Someone else was just here!" and leave.

I once told some cops that at a neighborhood watch and they laughed and said, "Who knows? It might work."

On a more serious and practical note, I hope that the lack of a TV of any kind would make them immediately assume I have nothing worth taking. A determined thief might find the small amount of jewelry I have, which would be annoying. I doubt a thief will cart off my wedding china or the Waterford crystal I have. I keep on hearing that such people are generally looking for things that are fairly easy to take out and sell, and anyone getting into my place would not easily see anything like that.

On the other hand, I do know of a couple of cases where the intruder knew exactly where to look for large sums of cash, so if you have anything like that move it to a new location.