Home security systems can deter potential break-ins just through their display on your property, whether that’s your branded yard sign or your outdoor camera that’s visible on the corner of your house. A 2012 study by the University of North Carolina at Charlotte’s Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology that surveyed incarcerated burglars found that the presence of alarms was effective in reducing burglaries. More than half of the burglars indicated that an alarm was a deterrent and would prompt them to seek a different target.