With all due respect to your local police, it sounds like  a little continuing education might be in order.. Home roberies are not the leading crime in the US anymore. Neither are drugs. The fastest growing crime is ID theft and it surpassed drugs a year ago according to FBI stats.

Marking your belongings with your SSN or Driver's license number used to be recommended by most police because it made recovery from the evidence room much easier. I think it might be a better idea now to mark the items with a symbol you can remember but one that does not specifically identify you unless you want to be identified.

By the way, here's an old tip that can make auto theft recovery easier. Just drop your business card down between the window and the seal. The idea was that even if the VIN was changed and a new title forged, the card would serve as evidence the car had been in your possesion.