You'd think. However, this is a rural area with a sheriffs department that has budget constraints. I know of 2 shops with monitored alarm systems that were successfully robbed over the last 5 years because by the time anyone followed up they were gone.

Your statement that "a proper monitored alarm system would have prevented this" is optimistic. I never had any particular expectation that if somewhat intelligent criminals decided to break in when no one was there that I wasn't going to lose whatever they could get at. The cameras let me document what happened and when and what was taken. If the imagery ends up having any other value that's a bonus rather than the point.