Face processing in police service: the relationship between laboratory-based assessment of face processing abilities and performance in a real-world identity matching task

Markus M Thielgen,Carolin Bosé,Stefan Schade

doi:10.1186/s41235-021-00317-x

Markus M Thielgen, Carolin Bosé + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s41235-021-00317-x

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Abstract

In the present study, we investigated whether police officers’ performance in searching for unfamiliar faces in a video-based real-world task is predicted by laboratory-based face processing tests that are typically used to assess individual differences in face processing abilities. Specifically, perceptual performance in the field was operationalized via the identification of target individuals in self-made close-circuit television (CCTV) video tapes. Police officers’ abilities in the laboratory were measured by the Cambridge Face Memory Test long form (CFMT+). We hypothesized that the CFMT+ predicts individual differences in the CCTV task performance. A total of N = 186 police officers of the Rhineland-Palatinate State Police participated in the study (i.e., N = 139 novice and advanced cadets with either 3 months, 15 months or 24 months of pre-service experience; N = 47 experienced police officers with three years of pre-service experience and at least two years of full-service experience, who participated in the assessment center of the special police forces, specifically the surveillance and technical unit). Results revealed that the CFMT+ explained variance in the CCTV task. In sample 1, CFMT+ scores predicted hits, but not false alarms. In contrast, in sample 2, CFMT+ scores were correlated with both hits and false alarms. From a theoretical perspective, we discuss factors that might explain CCTV task performance. From a practical perspective, we recommend that personnel selection processes investigating individual differences of police officers’ face processing abilities should comprise of two steps. At first, laboratory-based tests of face processing abilities should be applied. Subsequently, to validate laboratory-based individual differences in face processing abilities, we recommend that work samples such as CCTV tasks from the field should be added.

Highlights

Major crimes such as terror attacks or crowd events like the Cologne New Years’ Eve riots in 2015 challenged police organizations worldwide (e.g., Eddy, 2016)
Since upright faces usually occur in naturalistic scenes captured on circuit television (CCTV) material, we focus only on the Cambridge Face Memory Test (CFMT)+
Further evidence is needed on how performance on standardized psychometric measures of face processing abilities is related to applied identity matching tasks performed by police in their daily work

Summary

Introduction

Major crimes such as terror attacks or crowd events like the Cologne New Years’ Eve riots in 2015 challenged police organizations worldwide (e.g., Eddy, 2016). In order to promote both crime prevention and law enforcement, security-critical verification tasks covering crowd surveillance, passport authentication or criminal investigation are essential for police. Both human competencies and artificial intelligence are increasingly deployed. Information technology has to take into account a wide range of requirements to develop a software of human face processing yielding high levels of accuracy (Davis et al, 2010). A recent pilot study at Berlin Südkreuz train station revealed that the current face processing software lacks to perform sufficiently and remained beyond expectations. The applied technique still failed to achieve satisfactory accuracy levels and societal acceptance (Dahlkamp et al, 2020; cf. Murray & Fussey, 2019)

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