The article suggests you can’t get out if the window has bars. That is incorrect since bars are now made so the homeowner can open the bars and exit the house.
My front window has locks on the inside so the window can’t be raised. These locks can’t be unlocked except with an Allen wrench which I keep close to the window. Anyone breaking a pane of the window can’t reach through and unlock the window, plus there is a bar at the top of the window that goes to the window frame so that’s another reason the window cannot be opened and that bar has big red letters easily read from the outside that read “ALARM”. The window is in squares with metal strips between the window panes.
The window is also rather high off the ground outside so it’s not at the criminal’s easy level. He also has to get through the thickest hedge known to mankind to get to the window. He isn’t getting in that window, AND if he touches the window enough for it to vibrate, a loud alarm goes off.
He’s going to pick an easy window to go through, not mine.
What kind of hedge is it? I love pyracantha to plant below windows — the name means “firethorn” and it is nasty. No sane person will try to climb through it. When I lived in Tucson, there was a large pyracantha growing outside my bathroom window, and I used to leave that window open for ventilation while I was working out of town, sometimes for months. Nobody ever broke in.
The only drawback to pyracantha is that you have to prune it back once in a while, and you will shed blood when you do.