Criminals hate it when THEIR eyes are on them…
In the Dortmund “Tatort” episode “Love is pain”, a so-called super-recognizer as “Beate Gräske” supported the team around Commissioner Faber (Jörg Hartmann, 53) in the search for a knife man.
The face of Berlin’s Sar Adina Scheer (28) is still little known on TV. As a result, alongside TV colleagues Rick Okon (34, “Jan Pawlak”) and Stefanie Reinsperger (35, “Rosa Herzog”), she introduced an exciting aspect of modern investigative work. The police job that she portrayed is also becoming more and more important in real manhunts.
Sar Adina Scheer (right) helped her colleague (Stefanie Reinsperger) as a “super-recognizer” in the search for a murderer using video recordings
The Super-Recognizer: This is how “Kommissar Adlerauge” works in the real hunt for criminals. Take a close look, store the smallest details in your own head and then call up this information when it comes to comparisons or the evaluation of photo and film material…
This special recognition of suspects from around 30 different facial features is a talent. An estimated two percent of all police officers have the gift of being able to photographically memorize faces using minimal features (wrinkles, muscle movements) for identification.
In North Rhine-Westphalia, Interior Minister Herbert Reul (70, CDU) launched a pilot project to find police officers with this gift.
Chief Inspector David Paprocki supports the real Dortmund police colleagues as “super-recognizers” and identifies suspects based on various facial features
Chief Inspector David Paprocki (45) is one of the real super-recognizers from Dortmund. About his work: “The more characteristics we discover in a person, the easier it is to recognize them, even months or years later.”
Paprocki recognized his talent as a teenager and can still recognize people today, for example, whom he last saw years ago. Incidentally, non-police officers can check whether they have the talent of a super-recognizer. For example, if you notice when watching TV that you can recognize even the smallest supporting roles or extras in films or series in the background and assign them to individual scenes, you may have the skills.
Every little thing in the recordings of a suspect can be decisive: Sar Adina Scheer (as “Beate Gräske”) advises her “crime scene” colleagues
What also helped the team and its specialists in the “crime scene” from Dortmund? The camera surveillance that filmed the perpetrator in numerous places.
Is Dortmund really under surveillance as much as the thriller shows? A spokesman for the authorities told BILD: “The police headquarters in Dortmund uses stationary video surveillance to prevent criminal offenses and dangerous situations.” According to the current status, places such as Brückstrasse, Leeds Square and Münsterstrasse are publicly monitored. The streets monitored by video are crime hotspots with a large number of offenses and reasons for action.
Many people almost only look at the eyes when trying to recognize someone: super-recognizers have the gift of memorizing dozens of facial features and never forget them again
A spokesman continued: “Specially trained employees can follow the images live in the control center at the police headquarters and, at best, inform emergency services about the preparations for a crime. The cameras enable people to be described and escape directions to be identified. With this information, we can finally go into the manhunt without losing valuable time – this advantage also increases the prosecution pressure. The recordings also serve as evidence in criminal proceedings.”
“Tatort” team from Dortmund (from left): Rick Okon, Stefanie Reinsperger and Jörg Hartmann
But: “The video data is generally only recorded, recorded and stored at the times specified for the video-monitored area. Data protection is of particular importance here: The recordings are stored for a maximum of 14 days. If sequences are relevant for investigations, they can also be secured for a longer period of time.”
And: “The video system was configured by entering restricted areas in such a way that it is not possible to look into living rooms or comparable protected rooms.”
