HowSafeisYourHome?

It Takes a Thief Norm and Sherry pulled into the driveway of their home in suburban New Jersey, feeling exhausted. It had been a brutal day, one of the hottest on record, and a few hours earlier, they had been involved in a fender bender. Finally they could relax, maybe cool down in the pool. They didn't know their bad day was far from over.As they got out of the car, a thief was swiftly moving through their house. Seconds after they walked in, he slid open the rear door and slipped away.

Later Norm and Sherry watched a playback of the break-in, unnerved by the sight of a stranger rifling through their things, grabbing cash, a son's guitar, even stopping to gulp juice from the refrigerator.

"This is freaking me out," said Norm. "It's scary. Very scary."

And totally expected. This was another well-organized crime on It Takes a Thief, a cunning Discovery Channel program that, depending on your point of view, is either a makeover show with an edge or every paranoid homeowner's nightmare.

Its premise is deceptively simple. You get a complete security makeover in exchange for giving two reformed burglars the chance to try to break into your house. A crew sets up cameras inside and out. Sometime in the next few days, Jon Douglas Rainey, the show's designated burglar, breaks in. Afterward co-host Matt Johnston helps the family figure out what went wrong.

Part of the fun is watching to see if Rainey can pull it off. Of nearly 60 burglaries attempted on the show, he has gotten in every time. He does a very Hollywood version of trashing a place -- flipping mattresses, dumping dresser drawers, even emptying a kid's piggy bank to underscore how cold-blooded a thief can be. It's all to dramatize a bigger point, he says. "You can be too comfortable for your own good." Consider these dismal statistics: According to the FBI, a burglary is committed every 15 seconds in the United States. Most of the two million-plus targets are residences.

It's a pricey crime -- the average loss is a little over $1,600 -- and the stolen goods are rarely recovered. Want justice? Good luck. Arrests are made in only 13 percent of cases.

Even creepier is how bold thieves can be. Most residential burglaries occur in broad daylight. July and August, when kids are home on summer vacation, are the busiest months.

And everyone is vulnerable. In one Thief episode, A.J., a police officer, watched in shock as Rainey busted in through a small basement window. The officer's wife glared at the TV.

"'Nobody can go through that window,' my husband said. 'Nobody.' "

The "burglars" made off with the couple's TiVo recorder, their crystal and china, passports and the officer's uniforms. Total take: about $60,000, including two guns and ammunition, from a safe in the bedroom closet.

How to Crook-Proof Your HomeHome, alone. Burglary is a crime of opportunity, says Frank Santamorena, Thief's security advisor. The challenge is to deny crooks any opportunity. "In order to build a good mousetrap," he explains, "you've got to think better than a mouse."

One of the first things a robber will want to know is if anyone is home. Generally, burglars don't target residences that appear occupied. For that reason, urges Santamorena, take your name off the mailbox. With your address and name, all a crook has to do is call information, get your number, then phone your home to see if someone answers. Bolder thieves will ring the doorbell. For them you can create lived-in sound effects by connecting a timer to a radio or TV. Going on vacation? Ask a neighbor to park his car in your driveway.

Take my stuff. Please. Think about what the casual drive-by crook will see. Johnston and Rainey often case a neighborhood in ordinary guises: a dog walker, a bicyclist, a deliveryman. One house, with a fancy boat parked on a trailer, immediately stood out.

The message is simple: If you've got it, try not to flaunt it. Next time you buy a big-ticket item, like a computer or a plasma TV, break down the carton before you leave it by the curb.

Open invitation. In roughly a third of all break-ins, a thief gets into the house through an unlocked door or window. At Norm and Sherry's house, Rainey simply slashed a screen and climbed through the open window in their son's room.

Don't feel smug just because you lock up -- especially if you hide a key somewhere outside. Those fake rocks aren't fooling anybody. If you want to leave a spare, get a digital key safe -- a metal box with a keypad entry lock. GE's AccessPoint costs $60. For about $100 you can replace your old locks with keyless combination models.

And don't forget about the Big Door, the one to the garage. Change the factory-set code on your electric door to prevent someone from getting in with a common brand of opener.

And stay out! Homes without alarms are three times as likely to be robbed. Typically, crooks see the sign on the lawn and keep going. If they do break in, they rush through and take less.

Surprisingly, though, dogs aren't always effective at keeping the bad guy out. "We don't train our pets to kill. We train them to be friendly," says Santamorena. Rainey has only been bitten once, nipped by a tiny hound. Most of the time, the treats he carries in his pockets win over "guard dogs" instantly. On one job he stole a man's custom pickup truck and his pit bull.

Don't go halfway. Some people think they're safe, but the measures they've installed don't go far enough. Some specifics:

Install a serious lock. Deadbolts should extend at least one inch into the doorjamb, to keep thieves from kicking them in.

Bolt your safe to the floor. Otherwise, a thief can pick it up and carry it out. Santamorena recommends Gardall safes, $205 and up.

Motion lights only work if they stay on. Mount fixtures high, out of reach. If they're too low, all a thief has to do is unscrew the bulb.

In the end, it comes down to an attitude change. Not everybody gets it. After a house has its security upgrade, Johnston and Rainey try to break in again. About 40 percent of the time they succeed.

"If you're not serious about security," warns Johnston, "that's making a decision to not be safe. Open your eyes to caring a bit more about your home, possessions and loved ones.""