The Association is very pleased to announce that Josh Davis has been promoted to Professor of Psychology. For many years Josh has been at the forefront of the research into Super Recognisers, beginning with the Metropolitan Police in 2011. As a result of his efforts, he was the first academic to receive Honorary Fellowship of the Association from Lord Lingfield. We wish Professor Davis every success in his future work.
Kelly Hearsey, the COO of Super Recognisers International Ltd gave an account of her work as a Super Recogniser in a new article. Read about her work at:
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/ep487p/how-police-are-using-super-recognizers-like-me-to-track-criminals
Accurate identity judgments are critical in ensuring that suspects can be apprehended by law enforcement and national security agencies and that fraud attacks do not go undetected at border control points. Research has shown that typical human observers are poor at facial recognition in these contexts. However, there is now a decade’s worth of science which shows that some individuals – known as super recognizers – excel at such tasks.
This video podcast is part one of a two-part series on the topic of super recognizers and facial recognition. In this podcast, Dirk Plante, Deputy Director of HDIAC, interviews two subject matter experts, Dr. Josh Davis and Dr. David Robinson, on facial recognition, discussing the definition of super recognizer and what makes a person more or less likely to possess the ability to be a super recognizer. This podcast also discusses methods that organizations can use to identify if they have personnel who are super recognizers. The next step of effectively utilizing this talent is also outlined.
https://www.hdiac.org/podcast/super-recognizers-part-1-of-2/
Read the HDIAC Journal article on the same topic and authored by the interviewees here: https://www.hdiac.org/journal-article/capitalizing-on-the-super-recognition-advantage-a-powerful-but-underutilized-tool-for-policing-and-national-security-agencies/
The Court of Appeal has overturned an earlier judgement in favour of South Wales Police and has deemed the use of live automated facial recognition (AFR) software as unlawful. Police had deployed AFR in Cardiff to check fans attending a large sports event, but its use was challenged by UK civil rights group, Liberty. The bans on the use of AFR in the USA and UK emphasise why law enforcement agencies should be using HUMAN Super Recognisers. More details in the attached BBC report:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-53734716
According to the conspiracy theory, Paul McCartney was killed in a traffic accident and was replaced by a doppelganger - and there are all manner of alleged “clues” in Beatles’ songs, including “Strawberry Fields Forever “ and “She’s Leaving Home” and on their album covers, such as “Abbey Road”. Professor Sterling Harwood of California has examined all the evidence and used Super Recogniser Kelly Hearsey to compare images of Paul pre and post his “demise”. The results are included in Prof Harwood’s new book “The Greatest Mystery of the Beatles”.
The ability of Super Recognisers to remember faces over a long period is a vital skill in law enforcement. Criminals can disappear for several months - especially if they are suspected of very serious offences. In his latest blog, Dr Josh Davis reveals the performance of Super Recognisers when tested on the identification of images nearly two months after the initial viewing. Dr Davis highlights the need to conduct testing for long term recognition.
The Association is pleased to announce that the Berlin Police are testing their officers for Super Recogniser skills. This news is contained in this video (around 1 hour 18 minutes) presented by Dr Meike Ramon, as part of the EU Project on Urban Security regarding Super Recognisers:
https://zoom.us/rec/play/vJ0kc-Go-jk3EtTDuQSDBaR8W466eK-s13Mc_vELzk6zUiZQZACnZ7sRZba-gFc7JhKVDQ2xce2w1LqA
Dr Ramon appears to claim that this will be the first collaboration between academia and police in this field, but the Association can confirm that from 2010 there was several years of work by Greenwich, Bournemouth, Leeds and other universities with the Metropolitan Police and a number of research papers (and TV documentaries) were produced. The Super Recogniser tests used by Dr Josh Davis (Greenwich) were developed as part of the EU Project "LASIE", where his university, Scotland Yard and the Madrid Police were partners.
The Association wishes the Berlin Police and Dr Ramon every success and is ready to assist when required. And, of course, results from previous collaborations will be shared to assist this new project.
The next SRI Course will be held in central London 1st - 5th March. Full details are shown on the “Courses” page of this website.
Due to the on-going problems with Covid 19, it has been decided to hold the Presentation Day in early 2021 and NOT in September. Once a date has been agreed, this will be circulated as soon as possible. A venue will be central London. Licences and certificates will be presented by our Chairman, Lord Lingfield, who wishes all our members well.
Officers of the Baden-Württemberg Police are investigating rioting and violence, which occurred in Stuttgart on Saturday 20th June. Many of the offenders were captured on CCTV images and now the police Super Recognisers have been called in to identify them. Germany has been at the forefront of developing the super recogniser tactic since British SRs from New Scotland Yard assisted detectives from Cologne, who were investigating the mass sex attacks which occurred in city Kathedral Platz on New Year's Eve 2015. Super Recogniser Units have been developed in several German cities, including Munich.
Reports are in German
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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