There is every reason to suspect that this make-up may fool a computer, but the Association has little doubt that human Super Recognisers could see through the disguise. More reason for law enforcement agencies, military units and security companies should seek out their SRs.
Thanks to Association Member, Andy Pope, and his fantastic identification rate for the West Midlands, several articles have appeared in the British press relating to Super Recognisers. Here is just one example!
In this interview, Professor Martin Evison of Northumbria University and former President of the Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences questions the police use of automated facial recognition systems. He does, however, have high praise for the use of human Super Recognisers. It is time for law enforcement to start using the skills of their PEOPLE to spot offenders. At Super Recognisers International, we can help you to find your Super Recognisers and train them how to use their skill within the law and to best effect.
Click to 19 minutes to hear Mike Neville discuss the Super Recognisers.
How is it that only two polices forces in the whole of the UK use super recognisers?!
A documentary is under consideration by a large broadcasting group. To show the diversity of Super Recognisers, those from ethnic minorities or disabled groups are sought. For further information please contact gemma.havard@superrecognisersinternational.com if you fit this criteria and have interesting Super Recognition skills to relate. This will be paid work.
Police's super-eye discovers wanted thief
The Stuttgart police have unusual talents – they recognize the faces of people they have seen in search photos. To the displeasure of a fugitive offender.
The 34-year-old should not have passed the police headquarters at the Pragsattel in the light rail. However, he had no idea that a specialist of the police would board the U-15 train in the direction of Stammheim that late evening. One with a special eye for people. A so-called super-recogniser.
The fact that the Stuttgart police have about 70 talents, who can memorize faces particularly well and recognize them in any situation, has once again paid off. A 36-year-old traffic route investigator had been working with the traffic police for a long time when he was on a light rail in the north of Stuttgart shortly after 10 p.m. on Thursday. But then everything immediately returned to duty.
Talent search with help from London
A 34-year-old man, whose image was registered in the police search systems, was sitting on the train and had been put out for arrest. The person concerned, who had not begun his sentence for theft, immediately suspected evil when he noticed the eyes of another resting on him. Already at the next stop, at the level of Sieglestraße in Feuerbach, he tried to get up and away – and escape in the darkness of the industrial area of Feuerbach.
Why could he be recognized in the first place? In February 2018, the Stuttgart police had participated in a project in which officers were sought who have a special memory. The facial features can memorize themselves so well within seconds that they would still recognize the affected persons after years in a crowd. The Metropolitan Police in London has had a special unit of such super-re-recognizers for years – and together with a scientist from the University of Greenwich, the Stuttgarters were looking for talent in their own ranks. With success.
The fugitive has a knife with him
In September 2019, for example, a Stuttgart super-recogniser, also in the evening, had tracked down an EC card thief in Zuffenhausen, whom he had met by chance on the sidewalk. And the 34-year-old in the current case had no chance either. "The colleague is a very good runner," said police spokeswoman Monika Ackermann. He sprinted behind the fugitive, several hundred meters to the Magirusstraße. There the man gave up. "He then also released his knife," says spokeswoman Ackermann. The 34-year-old, who is known to police with offences across the Criminal Code, then began his sentence.
All those who have completed the recent courses and have been identified as Super Recognisers or Super Matchers by the University of Greenwich will receive their licenses at the next presentation day. This will be held in central London on 20th May, 1pm to 3pm with Lord Lingfield, the chairman awarding the certificates.
A number of Honorary Fellowships will be awarded to those who have contributed to research or operational use of Super Recognisers.
Invites will be sent out in due time.
If you are interested in becoming a Licentiate then please email gemma.havard@associationofsuperrecognisers.org
In a major step forward in the science of super recognition Futurum Consultancy and Training will be offering super recogniser selection and training in Hong Kong, Singapore, Macau and other parts of the Far East. This is being done in partnership with SRI and ASR.
The latest research into the use of Super Recognisers by Dr Josh Davis and others entitled:
Super-Recognisers show an advantage for other race face identification
The summary:
The accurate identification of an unfamiliar individual from a face photo is a critical factor in several applied situations (e.g., border control). Despite this, matching faces to photographic ID is highly prone to error. In lieu of effective training measures, which could reduce face matching errors, the selection of “super-recognisers” (SRs) provides the most promising route to combat misidentification or fraud. However, to date, super-recognition has been defined and tested using almost exclusively “own race” face memory and matching tests. Here, across three studies, we test Caucasian participants' performance on own- and other-race face identification tasks (GFMT, MFMT, CFMT+, EFMT, CFMT-Chinese). Our findings show that compared to controls, high-performing typical recognisers (Studies 1 and 2) and SRs (Study 3) show superior performance on both the own- and other-race tests. These findings suggest that recruiting SRs in ethnically diverse applied settings could be advantageous.
The ASR is the professional body representing those who possess the super recogniser skills around the globe. Via our associate scheme, you will be able to access the latest developments in the science of super recognition, browse job opportunities and contact other practitioners from around the globe who share your unique skills and abilities. After a certain period of years in practice, you may even be invited to become a Fellow of the Association.
Have you got an amazing memory for human faces? Your skill could help law enforcement, security companies, Armed Forces or other organisations. You may just want to use your skill for fun OR are simply interested in Super Recognition.
There is NO need to have a background in security, the military or law enforcement. Super Recognisers come from a wide variety of backgrounds.
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