Could not agree more about being a hard target. Great point, thanks for posting.

Your suggestion of “very carefully and very gently convince them the best option is to make a safe exit” is the best choice if the right team is not available; unfortunately for Joe and Jane Average, the skills are lacking for even that, and the team who gets the call will be adrenaline-charged patrol officers who last performed a house clearing drill eight years ago at the academy. Also unfortunately, once on the scene, those officers – and quite a few more – will spend the next five hours treating your house as a crime scene and the reports – plural because there will be multiples, from patrol, from crime scene techs, from property crime investigators, etc. – will put all your secrets and details, from sex toys in the nightstand to gun safes and freeze-dried food in the closets, in the public record – and in coffee shop conversations – available to anyone willing to pay $3 for a copy.

As with a lot of things, prevention is the key. It’s not perfect, but being a hard target reduces the odds considerably,and being a very hard target that is not obviously a very hard target is the way to go; I’d very much prefer to be standing on my front lawn consoling a neighbor whose house was burglarized and offering my assistance to him than across the street watching government agents whom I don’t know poking and prodding through every nook and cranny of my family’s house.

Wow, that is terrible. I’m sorry to hear that and probably not a bad idea. Be safe.