To the most esteemed academicians and intellectissimas of the Straight Dope Message Board,
I am once more in the United States, and once more staying with my mother while she convalesces from her latest bout of acute, terminal COPD. Recently, while I was helping her get ready for bed, we fell into discussion about safes. Now, it so happens that my mother owns a lot of fancy jewelry and other nice things, and she also happens to have a wall-safe built right into the wall in a somewhat-concealable location.
Here’s the thing. I feel she should put things into it, because we frequently have large numbers of help in the house with construction, renovation, or caretaking. She, on the other hand, feels that a safe is ultimately dangerous - she is petrified of the idea that burglars will come into the house whilst she is home, see that she is home, see the safe, and start putting the screws into her so that she tells them the combination or opens it. To that effect, she leaves the safe empty and open.
Question for the assembly: are there any instances of my mother’s fears actually coming true? Have burglars ever used torture or intimidation in order to force residents to open their safes?
Sure, it’s happened. Not seeing how leaving the safe open and empty helps any.
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Leaving the safe unlocked and not securing your valuables means that the sneaky burglars, which is most of em, who aren’t going to confront homeowners (they don’t want to get shot and they don’t want to raise the ante from mere theft to a serious crime with a victim), will be able to filch your mother’s stuff no problem.
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If it’s locked, and the torturing burglars drop by, she can just give em the combo right off the bat. She isn’t in any worse of a situation than if it were unlocked. If she’s afraid of forgetting the combo, she can stuff the safe’s combination card in her wallet.
I mean, I don’t know about you guys, but I ain’t willing to die or get tortured for my stuff. I can always make an insurance claim and pay a deductible - $500 isn’t worth getting my fingernails peeled. They won’t even have to pull out a torture instrument - if the burglars have me captive where I can’t escape or reach a weapon, I’ll tell em anything they want to know.
So put in a decoy safe… leave it open so they don’t look for the other one, hidden behind a picture 
Or this - tell her - your life is more important than jewelry, if this ever happens give them the combination. If the house is broken in while she’s not home or the burglars don’t find the safe or don’t indulge in torture, then her family jewels are safe. If it is a threatening home invasion, she’s no worse off than if she didn’t have a safe. If necessary, put a silent alarm button near the safe she can surreptitiously push when opening it.
Google “tortured to find money burglary” reveals a few news stories including the recent home invasion, torture, murder, and arson in Washington; and a woman in England. However, that woman was known/rumored to keep her life savings in cash, while the Washington businessman was expecting a $40,000 cash delivery (!?) which the burglars may have known. For general normal burglaries, not likely. A lot of other stories I find involve drug deals gone wrong or one gang robbing another’s stash house.
They won’t torture her if she tells them the combination, and then she’ll still have her valuables locked up when she’s not home. None of that matters much if the safe is small enough to carry out. A bolt through the wall or the floor won’t stop a determined burglar from carrying off a safe.
Being poor works best… What?