Force to 'work tirelessly' to rebuild trust

West Midlands Police's Acting Chief Constable has said the force will work tirelessly to rebuild relations, particularly with the Jewish community, after a controversial decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from a match against Aston Villa in November.

A meeting was held on Tuesday by West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner Simon Foster discussing the decision, which led to the retirement of former Chief Constable Craig Guildford.

Scott Green said he had apologised to the Jewish community at a separate meeting on Tuesday.

Acting Deputy Chief Constable Jennifer Mattinson added that the force would be rolling out antisemitism training for its officers.

The decision was taken by Birmingham's Safety Advisory Group, (SAG), led by West Midlands Police and Birmingham City Council, which deemed the match "high risk" because of unrest during previous Maccabi matches.

However, the report to the SAG referenced a non-existent fixture between Maccabi Tel Aviv and West Ham, a detail thrown up by the use of AI during evidence-gathering.

Foster told the meeting that the force must rebuild trust and confidence and "confront the shortcomings laid bare"

A report by His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) that looked into the failings by West Midlands Police concluded that antisemitism played no part in the decision-making, but Green acknowledged that damage had been done.

In documents released ahead of the meeting, the force admitted it "did not engage early enough with the local Jewish community".

Green told the meeting that he met the local Jewish community on Tuesday as part of West Midlands Police's Operation Strive, which includes the promise to investigate every report of antisemitic hate crime.

He said he had apologised for their failures around the match and that there was some positive feedback after the meeting.

Michael Rowe, chairman of the Young National Jewish Assembly said he was pleased that Green attended.

"While this was a positive first step, we now need to see concrete action from West Midlands Police to ensure that the Jewish community is not sidelined in the future and fans are not banned just because they're Jewish," he said.

"The chief constable's decision to act on my suggestion of providing antisemitism training to all offers will go a long way to restoring trust with our community."

Green was also asked why West Midlands Police only spoke to Dutch police and not other police in other countries, including Israel.

Green said he accepted more should have been done, and in future the force would contact "all European enforcement agencies".

Microsoft Copilot was the software that threw up reports of the non-existent match.

The programme is an AI-powered assistant that is able to do a number of tasks, including automating repetitive tasks, helping draft reports, presentations and emails, and analysing data trends.

During Tuesday's meeting, the force confirmed that Green had blocked access for staff to the software until further notice.

Green said it would still be used in the future, but the force needed policy and guidelines in place before it was.

Acting Deputy Chief Constable Jennifer Mattinson also said that better record-keeping of meetings was needed.

It came after Foster discussed a meeting which took place between the force and their counterparts in the Netherlands on 1 October - the force were looking for advice following a match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ajax in 2024.

The PCC said the online meeting was not recorded and a handwritten account of the meeting was thrown away after an email summary was sent.

Mattinson said it was not usual practice to record those meetings for European fixtures but it was "regrettable" the meeting had not been recorded on this occasion.

Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) director Derrick Campbell said the body was independently investigating Craig Guildford's conduct over his involvement in the decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans.

"We are also independently investigating to determine if any West Midlands Police officers or staff may have a case to answer for misconduct," he said.

Speaking to the BBC after the meeting, the PCC said Guildford's decision to retire had prevented what could have been a "costly and divisive process" which could have resulted in a "lengthy court battle".

"He decided [to retire] of his own accord, and that was a better outcome for the force and West Midlands communities," he said.

Foster said that following the publication of the HMIC's provisional letter on 14 January, he immediately began preparation of the process to dismiss the chief constable.

"He took the right course of action by retiring with immediate effect, that saved a significant amount of time, it avoided what would've been a distracting and divisive process," he added.

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