Home security services are, generally speaking, a racket.<p>A monitored alarm service (where, if an alarm goes off, the service notifies the police) will knock a percentage off your homeowner's insurance policy, but that's almost all it's good for.<p>This is because something like 97-99% of alarm service calls are errant, so when they happen, they're the lowest priority thing to do.<p>In addition, once the alarms go off, the burglar is already gone. The most prevalent crimes are crimes of opportunity: no-one is home, it's midday, they roll up your driveway in a truck, knock, go around back, break in, grab your iPad and PS3 and laptop, take it out the front door, and go.<p>When they break in, they've got 30-90 seconds before the alarm goes off, 30-90 seconds after that before the service calls, and then 5-20 minutes or more before the cops show up. They're long gone. You don't think someone who's done it before can get into your house, grab a pillowcase off your bed and fill it with anything valuable and portable inside of three minutes? (They totally can.)<p>If you're worried about someone breaking in while you're home, I can't recommend much, but those are also statistically unlikely. No-one's targeting you, staking out your house, stalking your movements, etc. (Probably.)<p>If you're worried about someone breaking in while you're gone, you want solid doors, strong door frames, visible security cameras and security lighting outside, and hidden eye-level still image motion-triggered cameras inside, and you want regular inventories of all of your valuables, including proofs of purchase. You want to focus on warding off crimes of convenience, identifying the perpetrators, and restoring what was damaged or lost as quickly and as efficiently as possible so you can get on with your life.