The typical lock in most homes will not provide protection against break-ins. A professional burglar can usually enter your home with no more than a plastic credit card or a thin screwdriver. Give your doors the best resistance to forced entry by installing dead bolt locks and a reinforcing strike plate with 3-inch screws. If you secure your doors with double-keyed dead bolt locks, make sure you have ready access to the key from inside if an emergency demands you exit quickly.

No home is totally safe from a determined, experienced burglar. However, if you make it difficult for someone to break in to your home, it's likely the burglar will select an easier target.

Most thieves follow a pattern. First, they like to operate without forced entry. Many burglaries occur weekdays between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., not at night. Many thieves choose to enter your home casually, by way of an unlocked door, so that an observing neighbor would assume nothing was amiss.