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 to Wallingford police in that period, consisting of 76 commercial and 91 residential burglaries.