Thames Valley Police Officers Praise Super Recogniser Course

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Another Super Recogniser Course was held at the Thames Valley Police Training Centre near Reading (5-8 Oct).  The feedback from the students was excellent:

 

Police Constable, Intelligence Section – “…this was a brilliant course…(with) input from people with such expertise and knowledge.”

 

Police Constable, Surveillance Team – “One of the most interesting courses I have done in the Police. Great to see TVP investing in the workforce, thinking outside the box and leading the way in this field.”

 

Police Constable, Response Team – “An engaging and professional week with passionate speakers sharing skills and knowledge gained over many decades; a great learning opportunity.”

 

Detective Constable, Priority Crime Team – “The course was very good, one of the most interesting I have taken in TVP. The visiting speakers were excellent. Well worth attending if you’re interested in ID evidence”.

 

Detective Sergeant, CID – “It was brilliant to learn that I have a natural aptitude for facial recognition…The course demonstrated those benefits and how the skills can be used to detect crime and bring more offenders to justice…It is clear that regardless of the improvements and advances in computer facial recognition programmes human intervention remains key to use this data evidentially.”

European Parliament Calls For Ban on Use of Automated Facial Recognition

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Members of the European Parliament are calling for a ban on the use of automated facial recognition systems, such as Clearview AI, which is used by numerous law enforcement agencies.

Read the full article here:

https://www.politico.eu/article/european-parliament-ban-facial-recognition-brussels/

This once again demonstrates the need for HUMAN Super Recognisers.

London Police Super Recogniser in The Times

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Great work from Met Police Super Recogniser, PC Steve Vella, who was praised at the Metropolitan Police “Officer of the Year” ceremony for identifying nearly 4000 suspects. Steve was first posted to the Super Recogniser Unit when Mike Neville was the founding head of the team. Steve’s efforts were noted in The Time newspaper. Well done to him.

SRI Courses - New Date & Feedback

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The next on-line SRI course will be held 30th November to 2nd December. Booked via the website:

Online Super Recogniser Course & Training - SRI (superrecognisersinternational.com)

The feedback from the September course was excellent - some quotes below from students from across the globe:

Petra from Sweden – “Thank you Mike to you and the other presenters for three Super Interesting days! I am very impressed by everyone's participation and happy to have been able to listen and learn a lot. This is probably the best "Zoom-education" I've experienced. No complications, great preparations and breaks running smoothly.”

Brian from the USA - " It was a pleasure to participate in a course that was conducted by such esteemed organizers and contributors as Mike Neville MCSFS, Professor Josh Davis and others. The in-depth level of testing and information provided, assures me of the accuracy of their findings in my results and confidence when entering the field with The SRI Licensure associated with my name. "

Kristin from England – “I think considering the course was originally designed to be done in person it translated very well over zoom. All sections/topics and guest speakers were enjoyable, very interesting and covered very thoroughly considering the time restrictions…I would highly recommend this course to other would-be super recognisers.”

Christian from Germany – “…it was a really exciting two and a half days.”

Katie from Nevada, USA – “I loved it, it was worth getting up at 2am each day!”

Association Presentation Day & Live Exercise – Dates Released

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Presentation Day

The Association Presentation Day will take place on Monday 29th November 2021 from 11am to 1.30pm at 86 St James’s Street, London SW1A 1PL.   All members of the Association are welcome to attend, especially those receiving licences and certificates from Lord Lingfield.     Recipients of awards can bring two guests.    All attendees and guests MUST be registered seven days before the event, by emailing mike.neville@superrecognisersinternational.com

The day will include:

·         A welcome by Lord Lingfield, Chairman of the Association

·         An update on Super Recogniser research by Professor Josh Davis of Greenwich University

·         Details of deployments in 2022 by our Chief Operating Officer, Kelly Hearsey

·         Presentation of licences to those who successfully completed the Super Recogniser course

·         Presentation of certificates to those who successfully completed the “spotting suspicious behaviour” and legal elements of the course

·         Presentation of Honorary Fellowships, with details of the law enforcement and other good work which resulted in the award.  

·         Tea and cakes

Please note that there is a strict dress code at the venue.  Gentlemen must wear a lounge suit (or similar) with shirt and tie.  Ladies must be suitably attired.

Live Exercise

As those who attended on-line courses have expressed an interest in taking part in a “live” exercise, this will be run the day before on Sunday 28th November – to save attendees having to make two trips to London.  AND it gives a good reason to have a night in London!   The exercise will take place 2pm – 5pm and costs £50 to take part.  This will give all Super Recognisers the opportunity to take part in a realistic, law enforcement-style deployment.     The day will begin with a briefing on the “villains” and “terrorists” who need to be spotted URGENTLY.   The teams will then deploy to a busy area and try to find their targets….   Can the crime be stopped?   Will the Super Recognisers save the day?

Jack the Ripper Walk

AND for those who want a full two days, Mike, who is a published crime historian, will be running a Jack the Ripper walk from 7pm on the Sunday in Whitechapel……..   Cost is £10 per person.  Along the route, you will be presented with information about the various suspects, who are believed to be the infamous killer.  Perhaps Super Recognisers can solve the most famous unsolved crime in history??    We will finish with a drink in the Ten Bells Public House, which was used by several of the victims of the serial killer and, for those who are hungry, a curry in Brick Lane.   An entertaining evening – just watch out for anyone with a doctor’s bag and a top hat!

Contact Mike to book onto any of these events:

mike.neville@superrecognisersinternational.com

Has Automated Facial Recognition Been Beaten?→

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Researchers in Israel claim that they have found a method to defeat computerised automated facial recognition systems. The article states that they have “…have demonstrated a method to create "master faces," computer generated faces that act like master keys for facial recognition systems, and can impersonate several identities with what the researchers claim is a high probability of success.”

This is just another reasons for law enforcement agencies, border forces and security companies to use HUMAN super recognisers.

Read the full article here:

Researchers Create 'Master Faces' to Bypass Facial Recognition (vice.com)

Thames Valley Police – More Super Recognisers Trained to Fight Crime

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The Thames Valley Police (TVP) Super Recogniser Cadre has recently increased its capacity following another successful course delivered by retired Met DCI Mike Neville, the CEO of Super Recognisers International Ltd.   This a law enforcement course, with focus on the producing admissible evidence from Super Recognisers.


Police Officers and Staff completed a number of online pre-course tests to determine selection for the four-day course at TVP Police Training Centre, Sulhamstead, Berkshire – a beautiful venue.  The course included inputs on suspicious behaviour training, describing facial features, legal requirements and statement writing as well as the Super Recogniser testing provided by the University of Greenwich.


Candidates were tested on the final day of the course with a practical exercise in Reading town centre, whereby a number of ‘subjects’ were planted into a crowded shopping area and had to be picked out by the students. All of the subjects were identified, despite students only being provided with very dated photographs (some over thirty years old). An exceptional effort by the students!

Feedback from the course has been extremely positive, with comments including:
“The presentation was extremely interesting to understand the capabilities of SR and how it can be used to bring offenders to justice and help victims too.”

“Street Exercise – very interesting, thoroughly enjoyed it and one of my highlights.”


“Mike and his colleagues and the SR course was really interesting, enjoyed it immensely looking forward to see what we get deployed too!”

Detective Chief Inspector Steve Jones, of Specialist Operations noted that, “The TVP Super Recogniser Cadre are already being used to assist live investigations, and have recently deployed in support of Project Vigilant – Preventing Sexual Violence in the Night Time Economy. With the increased capacity, and a further course planned for later this year, the team are going from strength to strength!”

A bespoke course can be organised for your law enforcement agency.   For further details, email: mike.neville@superrecognisersinternational.com

Partnership with National Forensic Science University of India

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India is unique, as the only nation with a university dedicated to Forensic Science. Super Recognisers International Ltd has entered into an exclusive agreement with the university to offer Super Recogniser selection and training in India. Those who pass the University of Greenwich tests and the legal examination, will receive certificates from the Association.


The driving force at the university is Dr. Surbhi Mathur, Forensic Multimedia expert and Senior Assistant Professor, NFSU. Dr Mathur noted that “With a vision to identify such people an exclusive MOU was signed between National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU) Forensic Sciences University and Super Recognizers International, UK on 7th of July 2021. With the MOU in effect, the country will witness a one-of-a-kind course to identify and train individuals with innate cognitive abilities to be super recognisers”.

National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU), an institute of national importance remains to be the pioneer throughout the world in the field of forensics. It is known to be a catalyst to refine the existing investigating techniques, and leads in providing training and assisting various criminal investigations in the country.

The Association is pleased that the skill of Super Recognition continues to spread across the globe.