Burglars and 'Feeling Secure'

After having our place broken into in 2001 while we were there, Lisa and I moved to our current place, in downtown Vancouver. I think a degree of alertness and paranoia is healthy, especially in this socially inept world of terrorism and color-coded security alerts.

From Confessions of a Master Jewel Thief:

Nothing works more in a thief's favor than people feeling secure. That's why places that are heavily alarmed and guarded can sometimes be the easiest targets. The single most important factor in security -- more than locks, alarms, sensors, or armed guards -- is attitude. A building protected by nothing more than a cheap combination lock but inhabited by people who are alert and risk-aware is much safer than one with the world's most sophisticated alarm system whose tenants assume they're living in an impregnable fortress.