How too stop criminals from stealing from our property?

I have a family an myself living in our nice house but yesterday there was some kids that stole tools an stuff from this old lady right up the road. I'm worried for my family's safety an worried we might get our stuff outside stolen as well we worked so hard for. We also have big dogs that will bark if they see any kind of disturbence outside an they are loose an bite. But what I want too know is how do we catch thies criminals in the act an how do we keep them from running before the cops show up?