Brian, It is a bit of a myth that the police can stop burglaries - unless they post an officer on guard in every back garden all night long!

The security of our homes is the home owners responsibility. We are advised time and time again of basic security measures we can take that will drastically reduce the chances of being burgled - but we seem to be very lazy about doing anything...until it is too late (and I include myself in this category, having being burgled late last year).

And as for a 10 year sentence being a deterrent - check out the facts, not the Daily Mail hysteria. Societies with the harshest prison sentencing have the highest crime rates. Sentencing policy does nothing to reduce crime.