A pioneer of the electronic security business, Britton was one of the first to bring digital products into alarm monitoring after creating a product that allowed direct-wire systems to be computer-automated for central station monitoring. Britton passed away on Dec. 1 at Cox Medical Center in the city that he called home for all of his 77 years, Springfield, Mo. His 43 years in the alarm industry was rivaled only by his 56 years of marriage to Tootie Britton, who survives him. Britton founded Springfield’s Atlas Security Service in 1962 and the Alarm Control Center central station a year later. Atlas is still going strong today under the leadership of son-in-law Jim Wade, who took over as owner/president of Atlas in 1992 after Britton’s retirement. With electronic security still relatively obscure in 1960s and ’70s, Britton and Atlas took it upon themselves to create products of their own. One of those products allowed traditional direct-wire systems to be computer-automated for central station monitoring. That product and other innovations led Atlas to form a separate research and development branch under the DMP name in 1975 that has grown into the one of the larger manufacturers of alarm products.
