A picture may be worth a thousand words, but to one San Fernando Valley landlord, it could also be worth tens of thousands of dollars.

By installing a high-tech security system in 11 apartment buildings in North Hills, the most gang-infested neighborhood of the San Fernando Valley, Rancho Equities LLC has been able to rid the properties of the thugs and drug dealers who used to congregate in and around the properties.

The system combines security cameras, a loudspeaker system and customized software that allows the company to transmit images of gang members to police within 24 hours. It has dramatically improved occupancy rates, lowered insurance costs and eliminated a costly staff of security guards.

“The bad guys know (the cameras) are there. And their photos are on file with the police department, so they are especially nervous about getting their picture taken,” said Richard L. Burns, manager of Rancho Equities.

Hidden cameras mounted inside and outside the complex record activity 24 hours a day. If gang members are seen loitering or other suspicious activity is taking place, the video images are converted to still photographs, which can be enlarged and digitally enhanced to reveal detailed images of those involved. The photographs are then sent by computer to the local precinct.

The loudspeaker system allows the property manager to broadcast warnings to those congregating around the building without having to go outside and risk potential harm.

“What Richard has done, in conjunction with our other programs, has reduced crime by 45 percent,” said Ernie Jimenez, senior lead officer for the Devonshire division of the Los Angeles Police Department.

Burns has begun leasing the equipment to other property owners with some unexpected results.

“It really deters people from hanging out in front of the building because they don’t want to be caught on video,” said Aron Abecassis, who installed the system in two of the North Hills apartment buildings owned by his company, Abecassis Management Inc. “We also started catching our own tenants vandalizing things.”

Abecassis said that in one case a tenant, who did not have his remote garage door opener, was caught breaking into the gate to gain entry. In another incident, the camera caught several teen-agers who lived in the building robbing an apartment.

“I’m very happy with the system,” Abecassis said. “Everybody behaves better because they know there are cameras, and they don’t know where they are.”

Drug dealing and related crimes had been occurring just outside the apartment gates. Indeed, the LAPD has identified 40 apartment buildings in the North Hills area as having the most gang activity in the San Fernando Valley, Jimenez said.

When Burns, a retired high-tech executive, first acquired the properties three years ago, he hired a staff of security guards, but they were unable to effectively police the buildings. They also were expensive: $7,000 a month, or $84,000 a year for teams of two that patrolled all 11 buildings eight hours a day. “It seemed they were never at the right building, even if they were on duty,” Burns said.

Last year, he began to develop the security system, which includes off-the-shelf equipment and customized software developed with the help of former associates from his high-tech days. Besides working cameras, which are camouflaged, Burns mounts decoy cameras in prominent places around the complex. That way, those who try to dismantle the camera will do no harm to the equipment that is actually recording.

Burns began installing the equipment about five months ago. At first, gang members tried to dismantle the decoys, but now are simply staying away from the properties, Burns said. At a cost of $55,000 to assemble the system, he said “in less than a year, I have my capital investment back.”

Burns, who also invested considerably to upgrade the apartment units, said added security has helped to rent the units. Once facing an 80 percent vacancy rate, the buildings, with units ranging from $500 a month for a one-bedroom to $775 a month for a three-bedroom, are now fully occupied.

The system so impressed the companies that insure Rancho Equities properties that they have lowered the premiums on the buildings by an average of 10 percent.

“Mr. Burns is a very intelligent, innovative type business owner,” said Michael Gomberg, principal of Gomberg Insurance Agency Inc., a brokerage that insures four of the North Hills buildings. “I really saw the value of this to show pride of ownership and to make it a safer place for everyone to live.”

Burns now says that the security equipment, which he leases for $189 a month, is likely to develop into a substantial business in its own right. Though he will limit the leasing business to those locales where he also owns properties, the company is planning to expand into other cities, and as it does, it will offer the system in those locations as well. “If you look at the geography where they have gang and drug problems, it’s huge,” Burns said.