Sam Southgate goes behind the scenes with the private security firm keeping watch on the streets of North Yorkshire.

INSIDE a darkened room on a North Yorkshire industrial estate, a female camera operator scans across dozens of television screens.

Suddenly she spots something - a man slumped on the ground by a stopped car outside Selby Abbey. He has been hit by the vehicle. Its windscreen is smashed and blood is pooling on the pavement.

Within seconds, the emergency services are alerted. The camera zooms in for the operator to record the car's tax disc and registration, in case the incident turns into a hit-and-run.

Just minutes later, ambulance crews and police arrive to take control, and the camera operator can relax.

This is the nerve centre of Mayfair Security's CCTV network, where streets across the Selby district are monitored 24 hours a day.

The lavish control room is a long way from where chief executive Chris Burton, 56, started the firm 20 years ago, selling burglar alarms from an office in his garage.

Now, with his wife, Mary, he runs a massive security empire that includes fitting alarms, running mobile security patrols and monitoring hundreds of CCTV cameras across the country.

He said: "When I first became an alarm engineer, I was just installing domestic alarm systems, working from the back of my garage.

"Since then, the growth in security demand has been enormous. So the company has expanded to meet that demand."

Mayfair is now one of largest independently-owned security companies in northern England. As well as operating a network of security cameras across Selby, Sherburn-in-Elmet and Tadcaster, its sister company, Group Response, runs "community ranger" patrols in trouble hot spots.

The firm operates four of the mobile CCTV patrols in York and two in Selby to record evidence of crime and antisocial behaviour - all the officers are drawn from an 80-strong bank of security personnel. It started the patrols in Selby in 2000 and expanded to York two years later.

Mayfair also runs its "national control room" from its base in Selby's Vivars Industrial Estate, where camera operators scan live CCTV images and alarm feeds from businesses across the country.

Mr Burton said the company's huge growth is due to greater public awareness of crime and developments in technology that have made crime-busting equipment more widely available.

He said: "The reason things are growing is not because the crime rate is growing, it is because there is a growth in the fear of crime.

"It is the fear of crime that is pushing the market forward and the advancing technology is making the surveillance of antisocial behaviour problems easier.

"People are becoming more aware of their vulnerabilities. People want to feel safe walking down the street at night.

"Therefore knowing that there is a dedicated team of operators looking after their welfare creates reassurance and a feeling of safety."

Throughout the night, Mayfair's control room is a hive of activity. Operators send an average of 20 incidents a night to police - all picked up on its network of 42 cameras across the Selby district.

The firm first started monitoring the town's streets on behalf of Selby District Council in 1996, when 11 cameras were installed.

They also monitor live alarm and CCTV feeds from tens of thousands of premises across the country, on behalf of 600 other security firms, and refer between 200 and 300 incidents a night to police.

Mr Burton said CCTV had been the biggest addition to the crime fighters' armoury since he started his business.

He said Selby police visit the control room two to three times a day to view evidence.

"The introduction of CCTV into crime detection is now integral to its success," he said. "Verification of incidents taking place is essential for the police to be able to respond correctly.

"The cameras are on 24 hours a day, every day, and our job is to monitor the town and to be observant for antisocial behaviour problems, developing crime, and generally care in the community.

"Where there is an incident developing, our operators will provide full recording of that. Where they feel there is a need for extra action, they will contact the police.

"We work extremely closely with the local authority and the emergency services, and we have a very good working relationship with them."

The company's newest venture is Careline, an automatic alarm system for elderly and vulnerable people that opens a direct channel to Mayfair's operators if they have a problem.

Mr Burton said the system can provide a link between elderly parents and their children to provide peace of mind, and is a natural extension of their existing services.

He said: "Many adults now have elderly parents who do not live close to them. They worry about them and we have the technology to provide a link.

"We already take care of intruders and antisocial behaviour but we have got the human aspect now for elderly or disabled people in the community or those at risk.

"Now we have got a service for them. It is a new venture but we have been driven to it by demand."

Mr Burton said the future lies in expanding Mayfair's Careline and moving into document storage and destruction for businesses and individuals, as fear of identity fraud increases.

"I have got this vision of providing a very safe security service which we have achieved," he said. "I have now got a very integrated company which provides every part of the community's security needs."

Looking for the early signs

CCTV operators at Mayfair Security's headquarters in Selby use a network of 42 cameras to monitor the district 24 hours a day.

They are trained to recognise the early-warning signs of incidents of antisocial behaviour, crime and road accidents.

The remotely-controlled cameras are positioned to monitor the town centres of Selby, Tadcaster and Sherburn-in-Elmet from every vantage point - there is even a camera on the top of Selby Abbey.

Every second of footage is recorded for 90 days on a huge bank of computer hard-drives stored at the firm's base at the Vivars Industrial Estate, in Selby.

The firm's control room has a direct hotline to the emergency services' dispatch desks and refers about 20 incidents a day to North Yorkshire Police to investigate.

At night, operators also monitor live feeds from alarms and CCTV cameras fitted at tens of thousands of premises throughout the country, on behalf of 600 security companies.

Every night, they report between 200 and 300 incidents to police forces around the country.

Updated: 10:50 Friday, April 28, 2006