Is this a common house-casing technique ?

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

1. Why is that person assuming someone wanted to rob him?

Has he been robbed before? Does he know to whom the camera belongs? Has he considered at least covering it so it can't record his home?

I'm being reminded of women I know who refuse to record a message on their home answering machine saying, "It only alerts potential robbers that a woman lives there." Well, aside from the interesting paranoia that would-be robbers call around to find out what places have women living there, if they are that concerned they can have some helpful guy record the message. Meanwhile, I'm never certain if I've really reached the phone I want if there's only the canned message from the factory.