Ireland & Police Use of Facial Recognition

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The police in Ireland will be using live and retrospective computerised facial recognition, but who will verify these identifications? In the UK, this is covered by the Surveillance Camera Commissioner Code of Practice (Amended Nov 2021).

The key part is Para 2.4, which notes that, “Any use of facial recognition or other biometric characteristic recognition systems needs to be clearly justified and proportionate in meeting the stated purpose and be suitably validated. It should always involve human intervention before decisions are taken that affect an individual adversely.”    

The best people to verify computer identifications are human Super Recognisers. Combining the best humans with the computer provides excellent results.

https://www.irishtimes.com/politics/2025/04/25/work-on-legislation-to-introduce-facial-recognition-technology-well-advanced-says-minister/

Awards Ceremony 2025

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On Thursday 1st May in London, Lord Lingfield was pleased to present certificates to Super Recognisers and Super Matchers who had completed their SRI courses in 2024 and 2025. Some of the highest scoring SRs were present. Prof Josh Davis also gave a talk on his latest SR research.

Additionally, Lord Lingfield conferred Honorary Fellowship on recently retired PC Jamie Smith. Jamie was the Met’s first Super Recogniser and used his skill to solve hundreds of crimes. Mike Neville gave a presentation on three of Jamie’s best cases - including a murder being sent to jail due to Jamie’s identification of a very poor quality CCTV image.

The previous evening, many of the attendees had enjoyed a Crime Tour of London delivered by Mike, followed by a few beers!

Super Recognisers & Hyper-Realistic Face Masks - New Research

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New research by Professor Josh Davis, an Honorary Fellow of the Association of Super Recognisers, and other identification experts has shown that human Super Recognisers can assist law enforcement agencies as criminals develop the use of hyper-realistic masks. The abstract:

Hyper-realistic silicone masks provide a viable route to identity fraud. Over the last decade, more than 40 known criminal acts have been committed by perpetrators using this type of disguise. With the increasing availability and bespoke sophistication of these masks, research must now focus on ways to enhance their detection. In this study, we investigate whether super-recognisers (SRs), people who excel at identity recognition, are more likely to detect this type of fraud, in comparison to typical-recogniser controls. Across three tasks, we examined mask detection rates in the absence of a pre-task prompt (covert task), and again after making participants aware of their use in criminal settings (explicit task). Finally, participants were asked to indicate which aspects of the masks could support their detection (regions of interest task). The findings show an SR advantage for the detection of hyper-realistic masks across the covert and explicit mask detection tasks. In addition, the eye, mouth, and nose regions appear to be particularly indicative of the presence of a mask. The lack of natural skin texture, proportional features, expressiveness, and asymmetry are also salient cues. The theoretical and applied implications of these findings are discussed.

The super-recogniser advantage extends to the detection of hyper-realistic face masks - LSE Research Online

Course Spans Three Continents

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Last week, the on-line Super Recogniser course had students from Asia, Europe and South America. Input was given by Prof Josh Davis, top performing Super Recogniser, Kelly Desborough and a counter terrorism expert. The students attained excellent “Z Scores” and qualifying as SRs. The next course is 17th-19th June. Why not join us!

Make Up Thwarts Automated Facial Recognition Systems

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Too many law enforcement agencies and security companies rely on automated facial recognition. As this article shows, make-up can thwart computerised systems. Human super recognisers can enhance automated recognition software and make venues and communities safer. AND they can see through make-up, masks and other disguises.

https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/15/make_up_thwart_facial_recognition/

Martyn's Law & Super Recognisers

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If you a UK security provider or major venue (or involved in policing at such), then the introduction of "Martyn's Law" or Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill, mandates you to provide better measures to prevent attacks like the Manchester Arena bomb. BUT wherever you are based in the world, keeping places and communities safer is our duty in security and policing.

The use of human Super Recognisers, using their natural talent to identify known suspects and trained in spotting suspicious behaviour, will give you an extra tactic to beat the terrorist or other criminal gangs. By knowing which members of your team have this skill, you can deploy them to observe key or vulnerable locations. Details of the new law are at this link:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8xe2k5zylpo