My interest in home security did not start until 5 a.m. on a nice summer morning when a man with a baseball bat crashed through an all-glass door on my patio. It is not the sort of wake-up call anyone would enjoy. Things turned out fine for me and, for that matter, for the burglar. He got away with a wallet grabbed from the kitchen counter and I got away with my life and limbs intact.

It's unfortunate that it frequently starts that way but rarely has the happy ending ...