Homes are broken into about every 10 seconds, 24 hours a day, 365 days ayear. No city, suburb or neighborhood is absolutely safe from intruders. The good news is that homes protected by home security systems or burglar alarm systems are 600% less likely to experience break-ins.

Study: No Property Stolen from Buildings with Home Security System, Commercial Security System or Burglar Alarm System
Adapted from an article by Darryl Campagna that appeared on Record Journal, Meriden,  CT

In a year in which the area’s burglary rate may continue to increase, no home or business with a working security system or burglar alarm system has had property stolen during a burglary, according to a recent police Study.

The study was compiled by Thomas J. Curran, the police department’s crime prevention specialist. Curran said that the statistics indicate that a working security or burglary alarm system will often frighten away a burglar before he can steal property, even if he has already managed to break into the building.

“What people should realize is, in most cases, a home security system, commercial security system or burglar alarm system will pay for itself in a very short period of time,” said Curran. “The burglar knows that he only has a short amount of time before someone takes notice.”

The lack of property losses in buildings with alarms is especially important to homeowners, Curran said, because he estimates that more than $100,000 worth of property will be stolen from homes during burglaries by the year’s end. In the month of September alone, such losses totaled more than $9,000.

“I’m not surprised by that,” Curran said. “We’ve had months with more.

Curran based his study on burglary statistics he tracked from January to September, he said. He compiled a total of 167 burglaries reported toWallingford police in that period, consisting of 76 commercial and 91residential burglaries.

Of the 76 commercial burglaries, only six occurred at buildings with commercial security systems or burglar alarm systems, Curran said. Of the 91 residential burglaries, only five occurred at buildings with alarms. The only residence in that group with alarms to suffer a loss during a burglary was at a home where the burglar alarm system had not been turned on.

A security system or a burglar alarm system alone may not always be an effective deterrent, Curran stressed, and he recommended other security measures such as strong window locks and deadbolts. But he said he believes his study does make a case for the effectiveness of alarm systems.

Curran said he realized many residents and business owners may have avoided alarm systems in the belief they would be expensive, complicated or ineffective.

But they can range from a simple audible signal to sophisticated systems that include hookups to central monitoring stations, Curran said.