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But the job isn't as simple as seeing a face and having a moment of instant recognition; it can often require studying reels of film for hours, says PC Collins. "I had watched hundreds of hours of the riot footage but there was one guy we couldn't get. It's hard enough anyway, as nearly all the riot footage was [taken] at night, the CCTV footage was grainy and there are people in the way. He had a bandana over his face and was wanted for robbery, vandalism, all sorts. He also committed a violent assault on a passerby. Very often a crook will keep the scarf over their face, but then, after the crime, take it off and you get a view of their face. This guy didn't."After studying the film, PC Collins finally caught his man, Stephen Prince, a 23-year-old from Hackney who was jailed for six and a half years for a number of offenses, including assault, burglary, arson, and theft. "It took weeks of watching tapes," says PC Collins. "We'd get a bit of an eye, then his nose, cheekbones. Then he'd get his mobile phone out and that'd be another piece of the puzzle. We'd study his build, clothes. Finally, I cracked it. I finally got a picture of what he looked like and we could bring him in. I was really proud of that—we'd worked so hard to get him and we caught him a whole year after he thought he'd escaped."Others soon followed, despite thinking they'd escaped. Joel Lettmann, 24, and Huseyin Onel, 20, were also nabbed months after their role in the riots for multiple burglaries and violent disorder, respectively. "It's very satisfying. These crooks think they've got away and then suddenly they get a knock on their door and they're hauled in," says PC Collins.Super recognizers have also been used preventatively in London, fishing troublemakers out of crowds before then can do any damage. In October of 2013, pickpockets lifted 140 phones from an Arctic Monkeys gig in just one night. Police were led to believe a professional pickpocket gang were deliberately targeting Monkeys gigs as fans wouldn't be suspecting people that knocked into them mid-song. When the band rolled into Earls Court a few weeks later, the Met carried out a sting that scooped up dozens of known pickpockets before they entered the site. That night, there were only a handful of thefts reported.Bizarrely, there is one major gap in the super recognizers knowledge: ethnicity. DCI Mick Neville of the Central Forensics Team says that—even if it isn't a politically correct statement—human beings are better at identifying their own race than they are others. "It's backed by science that we do need more ethnic officers to help us have a broader range [when] identifying different suspects," he says, adding: "Super recognizers are providing a vital service not only in catching offenders but also in totting up all their offenses—we can now pinpoint offenders for multiple crimes rather than just a few."Follow Andy Jones on Twitter.Read on Motherboard: Are Photographic Memories a Hollywood Myth?