Short of having a barking dog, one of the best deterrents to a breakin is a home made sign that messes with the mind. For example, "I may not be able to stop you from breaking in, but you won't get out alive." is an excellent mind trip for a would-be burglar. Whether it's true or not, and whether or not you would spend the rest of your life in prison, are not the issues, not to him anyway. He won't care to find out if you are willing to go to prison over his death. He'll be focused on the part about his possible imminent death. *That* is what will motivate him to find some other house.
I think you may be making an overgenerous estimate of the intelligence of the average burglar. And misjudging their motives for burglery to begin with.
My observation is that most burglars are only semi-literate, on whom the verbosity of your sign is wasted. That probably explains the very simple design of front lawn alarm-in-house signs. The would-be burglar recognizes the sign as an icon for "Don't shop here, we're watching"; he doesnt' really read it.
I'd also surmise that the average burglar is stealing to pay for a drug habit. The maintenance of his habit is his overriding motive for taking your stuff, not the stuff itself or the fantasies of acquiring wealth. When it comes to a trade-off between getting the next fix, and risking bodily harm (which in his experience to that point has probably been only in small payments) I'm afraid his choice will most likely be - your stuff.
Now, professional burglars are another matter. However, they're not likely to be so easily taken by your bluffing sign. For them, the drug is risk itself.
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Best Regards,
~DJA.-- [email protected] http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
