LONDON: Artificial intelligence and facial recognition software are considered to be the future tools to fight crime, but British police say it must go hand in hand with more traditional detection methods, including the use of so-called “super-detectors”.
Forces across the country employ officers who have an exceptional memory for faces and an above-average ability to identify people.
Only one per cent of the population has a “superpower”, said Tina Wallace, a surveillance expert from Thames Valley Police.
Her team began recruiting specialist officers in 2017 and now has around 20 on their rolls, including Alex Thorburn, who has been an officer for 17 years.
“I’ve always been good with faces. So when they announced the tests, I did it!” according to AFP.
“They showed me pictures of 10- to 30-year-old people. I had to find them in the crowd at the mall.”I found them all, but they looked very different from the photos. That was really interesting,” she said.
The team works on screens, and uses footage from security cameras, but is also sent into the field.
At the coronation of King Charles III. Thorburn was sent to mob Windsor Castle, west of London.
“We were deployed to go and see if there were any people fixated on the royal family,” she recalled.
“We were shown quite a number of images to see if they were there and would cause any problems. But luckily we didn’t have any.”
“It’s a cheap and effective way to fight crime,” said Mike Neville, who set up the first super-recognition team at London’s Metropolitan Police.
Now retired, Neville runs Super Recognizes International, which bills itself as “the world leader in people recognition”.
British police’s initial big success
One of the first big successes was in 2011, during the widespread riots sparked by the death of a black man shot by police in London. Police had to search through about 200,000 hours of security camera footage.
“Twenty police officers identified 600 London rioters,” said Josh Davis, professor of applied psychology at the University of Greenwich.
One police officer, who was an expert on gangs, recognized an astonishing 180 criminals based on image analysis.
Some he had never seen in person. Others had part of their faces hidden, said Davis, who is a member of Neville’s association.
Thames Valley Police covers over 2,200 square miles (5,700 sq km) west and northwest of London with a population of 2.34 million.
It deploys its “super-detectors” at set times outside bars and nightclubs to detect known perpetrators of sexual assault.
“We use plainclothes officers and they look for specific behaviours,” explained Wallace, a police officer for 26 years, at the force’s training center near Reading.
“When we see predatory behaviour, we call in the uniform team to stop it. “Two out of five men we stopped had previous convictions for rape or serious sexual assault. We stopped 520 in three years.”
As artificial intelligence and facial recognition technology develop at a rapid pace, human skills should not be underestimated, Neville insisted.
“It’s not really a facial recognition competition,” he said. “They can be used together.
“AI is good with high-quality front-facing images (like passports at airport electronic gates).
“People do better with lower-quality images where the face is angled or partially obscured by sunglasses or a mask.”
“Also note that under UK and EU law AI identifications must be verified by a human before an arrest can be made.
“Most people in a democracy would be happier if the people decided to detain someone rather than a computer.”
According to Neville, demand for super-recognizers is growing, particularly from law enforcement agencies in Germany and Australia.
Professor Davis has posted a basic 14-point test on the Internet for anyone wondering if they have the recall skills that make them super cognitive.
“If you get less than a 10 or 12, you’re not going to be a super learner,” he said. “But if you turn 14, please contact me!”
