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By Greg Bartlett

Some of your friends accuse you of being paranoid, but you ignore them mostly, at least. You know that there have been outbreaks of burglaries and car thefts in your neighborhood recently, so it’s only reasonable to take steps to protect yourself and your possessions.

Step one. You got an alarm system. Helpful, especially when combined with your furry alarm system which barks any time someone comes near the door. Come to think of it, your dog is a valuable, too, plus if it gets lost or stolen it won’t be able to do its job of guarding the door so fiercely. So you add a GPS tracking device to the dog’s collar, making sure that if the dog leaves your property you will be alerted instantly and will be able to monitor your pet until you retrieve it.

Step two. You always keep your doors locked at night, and have lights on in the yard, but you just added an extra precaution in case someone sneaks into your garage. Your new car, the one you spent three years saving for, now is equipped with a GPS vehicle tracking unit. If your car is moved during the night, you’ll be alerted. You can follow its progress and find out where it is, what stops it’s made, and how fast it’s going. Police should be able to recover it quickly with the GPS tracking information keeping such close tabs on your vehicle.

Step three. Just in case someone gets past your alarm system and befriends your dog before you awake, you add GPS tracking units to some of your more expensive and likely to be stolen possessions. Your TV, for instance, and other electronics which attract thieves. Since the GPS devices are small and unobtrusive, they won’t disrupt your use of the items and thieves probably couldn’t locate one on your possessions in the short time they would have to load everything up and escape. Even if you’re out of town, you’ll receive a text message, phone call, or email if your possessions are moved and can, like one homeowner did, call police instantly and have your possessions recovered and the burglars arrested.

Right now, you don’t feel the need to take any further steps to protect yourself. You already have some self-defense knowledge and with that, basic safety precautions, and the GPS tracking devices on your possessions, you feel pretty safe and free to ignore your friends’ laughter.