Burglary or identity theft?

Let's be clear that both of these things are bad, and I hope that neither ever happens to you. So we're all on the same page, burglary is when a person breaks into your house to steal things, and you may or may not be home. Identity theft is when someone gets your personal information, uses that information to buy stuff and doesn't pay for the stuff, and then the seller—or more likely a debt collector—comes to you to pay for the stuff that you never got in the first place.

Identity theft costs you time and money to fix the damage done to you. It makes you wonder about what might happen after you hand over your credit card to pay for that meal or buy something online. The headaches, aggravation, and inconveniences caused by identity theft can go on a long time, and you're never sure if the trouble is finally over.

A burglary can cost you money and time to repair the damage done to your home and to replace stolen items. More viscerally, though, it is also a violent intrusion into the one place where you (where we all) should be able to feel safe: your home, your castle. Burglary takes away your feeling of security in that all-important sanctuary. And it robs you of that essential feeling whether you're home at the time of the burglary or not. In my opinion, this loss of security outweighs the losses caused by identity theft. As I see it, burglary is worse.

—P. Robert Broeren Jr. '91, assistant director of law for Mount Vernon, Ohio. Broeren, who has worked as a felony criminal prosecutor, is now the primary misdemeanor prosecutor for Knox County. No, he will not fix that speeding ticket you got at reunion.