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Well, I have to second all of Excaliber's excellent post about calling the police. It is our job and what we are trained to do. He really hit the nail on the head with people who heard something and did not call and then it turns out to be something major. I cannot count the times I was told by someone that they heard the incident (sometimes a murder) and did not call because they thought it was nothing.

And, while I want you to call the police, I also want to warn you about one type of officer that is getting more common. This is the guy who thinks you should have known what it was and not called him. You can tell his kind by their arrival. As soon as you tell him what you heard, he will say it was probably a raccoon or a cat or a transformer popping. Then you will have to ask him to check anyway. This differs from the officer who tells you that in an effort to calm your nerves but then says that he will go check to make sure. He is just used to people who are nervous and need to be calmed down while he knows it might still be something real.

Make the lazy or rude officer do his job. Don't get put off by his attitude that you are bothering him or interrupting other work. Just be polite and firm as you tell him you want him to check it out anyway. If he refuses, then you need to call the department later (not argue with him). As much as I hate this, a lot of the younger cops are not being taught the old customer service rules in the academy. They think they will really catch felons all the time and get upset at lesser calls.

What I always recommend for home defense is take a good defensive position and wait for the bad guys to come to you. Especially if you have one hallway leading to the bedroom area, you can cover the threat to the family without further endangering anyone. And if someone does come towards you, you can then rest assured that their intentions are not nice.