Snapshot Webinar 06: Super Recognisers

We'll be joined by three experts on super recognition: 

• Kenneth Long, chief executive of the International Association of Behaviour Detection and Analysis (IABDA)
• Prof Josh Davis, Professor in Applied Psychology, University of Greenwich
• Chris Tritton, Senior Sergeant in the Queensland Police Service, Australia 

They will talk about what super recognition is, the psychological basis behind it, how it is being used in policing and security, what it's like to be a super recogniser and whether people can be trained to be super recognisers. 

Prof Davis commented: "Organisations failing to employ suitably skilled super-recognisers in human identity verification critical roles are likely to be underperforming."

We hope you can join us for what promises to be a lively discussion! Following a presentation by the speakers there will be an audience Q&A session, so please bring your questions.

More about our speakers: 

Prof Josh Davis 

Dr Josh P Davis is a Professor in Applied Psychology at the University of Greenwich. His PhD was on the “Forensic Identification of Unfamiliar Faces in CCTV Images” (2007) and he has since published over 35 research articles on face recognition and eyewitness identification, the reliability of facial composite systems (e.g., E-FIT6), and facial comparison evidence. Since April 2011, his research has mainly focussed on so called ‘super-recognisers’ with exceptional face recognition abilities. He has worked with police forces and businesses in the UK, Australia, Singapore, Netherlands, India, and Germany, helping them to employ super-recognisers. He is regularly interviewed by the international media, including more than 80 TV and radio appearances.

Sgt Chris Tritton 

I am a Senior Sergeant in the Queensland Police Service with 28 years as a police officer. After attempting an online Super-Recogniser test on the University of Greenwich website I found out I scored quite high and later spoke with Dr Josh Davis, the head of studies into Super-Recognisers. I applied for a scholarship offered to police to see arch innovative policing ideas that will enhance commune safety. As a result I travelled to London in 2019 and visited the London MET who were the first to use SR’s in law enforcement. I consulted with Kenny Long and Mike Neville from the first ever SR unit. I took all that knowledge back to Queensland and tested the officers in my police district and are testing Australia’s first SR unit. We also launched a trial facial recognition program that the SR’s still use their skills to match suspects from CCTV all over the state. Qld is a very large state of which the UK can fit into 7 times. I have made over 200 identifications in the first year answering bequests for assistance from all over the state.

Kenneth Long 

Kenneth spent 10 years serving as an officer in the Metropolitan Police Service. Whilst serving as an officer he was trained in public order & deployed in the London Riots, G8 Summit in Northern Ireland & the Nato Summit in Wales. He then went on to work at New Scotland Yard (SCD4) on the Super Recogniser Unit being one of the original Super Recognisers. During his time on the Super Recogniser Unit, Kenneth & the team identified hundreds of offenders leading too many convictions for offences including armed robbery & murder. He was involved in creating best practice & developed several techniques to best use the Super Recognition ability in Law Enforcement from surveillance operations to linked series identification.   Seeing the potential of Super Recognition & believing it could be used on an international scale & not just in Law Enforcement, Kenneth left the police to start Super Recognisers International which was the first company to identify, train & employ Super Recognisers. The company soon blossomed with his staff working on murder investigations, missing person enquiries, public order investigations & conducting live deployments resulting in spotting wanted offenders.   Kenneth has & is still working with many academics in the field of Super Recognition, Facial Identification & Facial Recognition to help conduct research in these fields leading to membership of the International Association of Identification, FISWG & chartered Society of Forensic Sciences. Kenneth now works at Digital Barriers as UK Business Development lead for Facial Recognition, working with Law Enforcement, Military & Private sector companies to help them better understand and deploy Facial Recognition Technology.   Kenneth is well documented in the media & provides consultancy in Super Recognition, Facial Recognition & CCTV. Documented by BBC World News, CNN, BBC News, Sky News, NHK Japan, National Geographic Channel, SBS Australia, CBC Canada, Radio Boston, Channel 7 Australia, New York Times, CNet, CBS, IQ Magazine, Express Portugal, Gobo TV Brazil, CBC Canada, The Observer, Discovery Channel, Professional Security Magazine, De Volkskrant.   Experienced guest speaker having spoken at events in the U.S, Dubai, Amsterdam & the U.K at events for Vodafone, BlackBerry, Retail Risk, G4S, Carlisle Support Services, The Ticketing Business Forum in relation to Super Recognition, Behavioural Sciences, Facial Recognition and CCTV.   Internationally recognised as an SME on Super Recognition & Facial Recognition leading to travel to China, Dubai, U.S, Amsterdam, Northern Ireland.