Face Recognition in the News

Many people don't realize the number of times face recognition is in the news, mentioned on television and in the newspaper or in their mail.

Think of the last time you saw or heard stories about:

  • Mistaken identity where someone is fed up with people mistaking them for a celebrity
  • Mistaken identity where gang members shoot the wrong person
  • Mistaken identity when someone is arrested for a crime they didn’t do
  • Photos of missing people urging the public to find them
  • Photos of escaped criminals to alert the public to be cautious
  • Celebrity look–alike skits on various television shows or at big events, such as Elvis or George Bush look-alikes
  • Faces of people with a new "look" or extreme makeover
  • Faces of people dating celebrities
  • New face recognition software technology used by local law enforcement at big community events for security
  • Face recognition software technology coming soon to cell phones
  • Security camera footage of criminals at a local store burglary seen on the news
  • People honored in the community and those winning awards
  • America’s Most Wanted Television Show, showing at least 8 new wanted criminals each week
  • ADVO Postcards coming in the mail each week to your home with photos of the missing

Each time one of these situations appears, it's easy to realize how important it is to perfect your face recognition skills and memory for faces by reading Million Dollar Memory for Names & Faces.

There have been three major stories about face recognition in the news in the past six months. Have you heard about them? Here they are:

  • A Capitol Police Officer failed to recognize Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney at the Capitol Building, allegedly because she "changed her hairdo."
  • A Louisiana police officer didn’t recognize an escaped prisoner even though he was right in front of him because of the description given to him
  • A van with several people in it crashes into a farm vehicle that pulled out in front of the van. Two young women inside are blond; one woman dies and the other has serious injuries. The hospital staff and families of both women confuse the women and think that the one alive is really dead and vice versa. The confusion lasts weeks.

There's no doubt about it. Face recognition is a hot topic!

Read more about mistaken identity.


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I Saw a Photo for 1–2 Seconds and Recognized the Man Two Weeks Later


"I wanted to share a story with you. Several months ago you showed me a pilot study you were working on for your new book. The study showed how to look at faces and then be able to identify and verbally describe them. I have always been great with voices but not with physical details about people I see.


The other day, I was cleaning a new rental property I had just purchased. A woman came to the door to look inside. She and her family were interested in renting the home so I gave her an application. She filled out the application and gave it to me along with her husband’s business card. He is a mortgage broker, so his picture was on the card. Immediately I said, 'I just saw this man the other day.' I asked if her husband worked in the same location as the Title Company that had just handled my housing transaction. She laughed and said, 'Yes, he works just down the hall from that company.'


I could not believe that I could recognize this man from his picture. I literally saw him for 1–2 seconds as he was unlocking a door in the hallway. The other thing that struck me was that he was a different race than I am. I have a much more difficult time seeing the differences between two people of a different race that I do two people of my own race. I don't know why. Hopefully this is normal.


Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I can't wait to get a copy of your book so that I can learn all the techniques in order to better identify people. It's really fun. Thanks for teaching this much needed skill."
—Lisa Swinyard, Thornton, CA



I Did It! Success in Remembering Names!


"I went to an event this past weekend that involved about 20 people, and guess what?  I remembered all but two names!!  One person in attendance was surprised I remembered her name, stating that 'people tend to only remember my name when I have on a name tag.' 

Big improvement from before!  In the past, I forgot a name before I even walked away from the individual. I'm impressed."

—Rolanda Reed, Sacramento, CA