DETECTIVE Sergeant Julie Greenwood is briefing a CID team after a woman at home alone finds a stranger standing in her front room.

Officers believe the prowler is linked to another incident when a young woman woke up to find a man sexually assaulting her in bed.

A potential suspect is identified who fits the description given at both incidents - a rapist recently released from prison, and living close to one of the victims. The officers need to arrest him and put him on an ID parade.

DS Greenwood said: “The man is one of the most dangerous offenders we’ve had in Sussex - just out of prison after serving seven years for a horrific rape, one of the nastiest ones we have ever had.”

The scene is just one of the many everyday tasks facing Bobbies on the Brighton beat, and captured in new ITV show The Nick.

Sussex Police officers have been captured on film as they open the doors of John Street Police Station last summer for new ITV show The Nick.

The three part series follows a cast of detectives and officers and is described by producer Ashok Prasad as the “real-life Bill or Hill Street Blues", telling the "intimate story" of what it’s like to work in a modern police station.

Gemma Holley, one of the detective constables in the team sent to arrest the prowler, says: “Sometimes it does make you feel nervous because they are dangerous people.

"But because we deal with serious offenders all the time you don’t think about what they’ve done, you just think about what you have to do when you get there.”

The prowler discovers the police are out to arrest him, and continues to elude them, despite their best efforts to track him down - but he eventually hands himself in.

At the helm of the Brighton force is Chief Superintendent Nev Kemp, who begins his day with a meeting known as ‘morning prayers’ to discuss the latest incidents.

“Brighton is a fantastic place. It’s got a real buzz about it, because it is 24/7 there are always things going on, and people are always busy,” Mr Kemp said.

“What’s great is that there is a superb can-do attitude amongst the officers. We are all part of one endeavour to protect the public and catch criminals. It’s much easier to generate that when you are in one place.”

Elsewhere in Brighton officers are on the trail of one of the city’s most wanted men – a con man who pretends to be a council worker to prey on the elderly and steal their cash.

There are 21 offences all linked to him including one elderly woman who lost £1,500 from her Post Office account when he tricked his way into her home.

The cops know who he is - a heroin addict who steals money for his next fix, but they struggle to pin him down.

The conman strikes again, but this time the pensioner challenges him and catches him on CCTV installed in his home.

Finally there is a tip-off that he is hiding in a seafront hotel and this time he cannot get away.

Another police bust covered in the documentary follows Detective Inspector Steve Warner as she seeks authorization to raid a brothel where they believe several Romanian girls may have been trafficked to work.

He said: “We are not a vice squad. We can’t shut down every brothel in the city, because there are a number.

“But what’s not acceptable, and I can’t turn a blind eye to is if they (the girls) are there and being made to work against their will.

“We had a case of a Romanian girl who genuinely thought she was over here for a weekend with one of her friends from school.

"The reality is she was undoubtedly being made to work in the sex industry.”

While detectives bust serious crimes, other officers are out and about doing their bit in the community.

The so-called “strongest copper in Brighton" Lee Willis, comes to the rescue of the driver of a camper van whose vehicle has become wedged on a seafront parking meter.

When off duty he takes part in strongman competitions lifting cars, so he easily rocks the van free with a little help from his colleagues.

At the front desk of the police station Cathy Chiosso helps a woman who claims to have lost her mobility scooter.

She tells Cathy she got drunk and lost the vehicle in some bushes, but she cannot remember where.

Ami Roberts is one of Brighton’s more experienced patrol officers.

The cameras are with her as she is called to help a two year old boy found wandering the city streets on his own, but he is quickly reunited with his mother.

“This is a lot of what we do - especially in the summer months,” says Ms Roberts.

“It could easily have been much worse, hit by a bus or found by someone who was not so honest.”

*The Nick starts tonight (WED) on ITV at 9pm.