Super Recognisers see through Masks & Sunglasses

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We live in a world where many members of the public (and not just robbers!) wear masks. Criminals will often take advantage of face coverings and sun glasses to hide their features, so that they cannot be identified on the street or when CCTV or other footage is reviewed after a crime.  Such items can also hinder automated facial recognition systems. Research by Prof Josh Davis and others have shown that HUMAN Super Recognisers are still able to recognise people, despite masks or sunglasses, and that they consistently out-perform controls. 

There are officers and staff with this skill in your police force, law enforcement agency or security company. My team can find them and train them to enhance the service you deliver. They can then ensure that more crimes are prevented and detected. Use the natural skills possessed by your team!

https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.201169

Another German Super Recogniser Unit - Berlin

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Super Recognizer: Berliner Polizei sucht perfekte Gesichtserkenner - Berliner Morgenpost

The Berlin newspaper (The Morning Post) reported that police in the German capital are looking for further Super Recognisers. The report is translated below. Further evidence of the spread of this policing tactic across the world.

Police Seek Perfect Face Recognisers

 

The Berlin police are still looking for people who have perfect facial recognition skills, so-called super recognizers.

 

Berlin. You can recognize almost anyone - whether it's on a blurry video, years ago, masked, aging, or otherwise changed. According to scientific estimates, between one and two percent of all people have the ability to memorize faces better than average and to recall what they have remembered at will. Last but not least, the so-called "super recognizers" are of great benefit to investigative authorities - including the Berlin police.

 

Since last summer, the authority has been trying to identify super recognizers in its own ranks. However, the result of a corresponding test run is still a long time coming. Originally, this should already be available in September 2021. "The differentiated scientific analysis of the test data is not yet complete," said a police spokesman on request.
 
However, the officials also seem to be rather reserved. Because of the approximately 18,500 law enforcement officers who were asked to take part in a specially created test procedure in June, only 1,400 took part. With one to two percent, however, only between 185 and 370 enforcement officers should have the ability.

New Super Recogniser Unit in Offenburg, Germany

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The police in Offenburg, in the south west of Germany near the border with France, are the latest law enforcement agency to identify and utilise officers with the Super Recogniser skill. Out of a work force of over 1500 staff, 35 Super Recognisers were found after extensive testing by Professor Josh Davis, an Honorary Fellow of the Association.

The article below notes that “On 18 February 2022, Police Vice President Jürgen Rieger and Criminal Director Hans-Martin Berl were able to present the certificates to the 35 employees from the entire Offenburg police headquarters in two small ceremonies. "We hope that their special skills will enable us to further professionalize our work for the benefit and safety of our citizens," said Police Vice President Jürgen Rieger.”

The Association praises this German Police Force for its innovation and looks forward to seeing the results from the new Super Recogniser team.

35 "Super-Recognisers" take up work at the Offenburg Police (bnn.de)

More Proof that Humans are Always Needed!

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Facial recognition software and artificial intelligence can really assist law enforcement and security agencies, but you always need the BEST human to operate and verify these systems - for legal AND ethical reasons. See this article:

https://fortune.com/2022/01/21/responsible-a-i-cant-exist-without-human-centered-design-artificial-intelligence-tech/

Views from an Australian Super Recogniser

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Yenny Seo is an Australian Super Recogniser. In this video see gives an insight into her skill. Note that she has never been employed in law enforcement or security, so she has difficulty recalling names to match to faces. BUT with police, CCTV operators and security officers, they keep records of interactions, so it is easier to match names. In any case, the ability to match several images of a suspect to different crime scenes is still a valuable skill.  She also notes that she is unaware of any qualifications. You can be assured that Super Recognisers International (in partnership with the University of Greenwich) offer a course covering not just Super Recogniser assessment, but also data protection legislation, identification law and tactics. Vital to make a natural ability into an operationally deployable skill, which produces admissible evidence.


https://youtu.be/1q27i44nm_U