West Midlands Police switched off Copilot after an invented match

West Midlands Police, England's third-largest force, switched off staff access to Microsoft Copilot in January 2026 after a football match that never took place appeared in a written report it gave to Birmingham's safety advisory group, the council-led panel that barred Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from a match at Aston Villa on 6 November 2025. "On my first day in office, I took the immediate step to turn off access to Microsoft Copilot within the force," acting chief constable Scott Green told a public meeting on 27 January, [The Register reported](https://www.theregister.com/software/2026/01/28/copilot-banged-up-after-ai-hallucinates-football-violence/4633414). The conduct investigation that followed is still open.

How one line got through

The force's report of 24 October 2025 said Maccabi Tel Aviv's most recent UK match was against West Ham United on 9 November 2023. "There was no such fixture," the chief inspector of constabulary wrote to the Home Secretary in [a letter dated 14 January 2026](https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6967aedfa2bb8d22cd7b0dbe/inspection-police-forces-contributions-safety-advisory-groups-west-midlands-police.pdf). A force interviewee told inspectors the statement "was the result of a search the force carried out using Microsoft Copilot" and called it "an AI hallucination", meaning the tool stated something false as fact.

The same letter says what failed around the tool. Not all the material in the report had passed through the force's dedicated intelligence structure. The intelligence bronze commander, the officer responsible for intelligence on the operation, was not involved in preparing it. Inspectors saw no notes made at the time for a number of key documents. The report held other inaccuracies the inspectorate does not attribute to AI, and the letter's main finding is confirmation bias, not software.

The chief said "We do not use AI"

Chief constable Craig Guildford told the Home Affairs Committee on 6 January 2026 that officers found the material through a Google search. "We do not use AI," he said, [according to The Register](https://www.theregister.com/offbeat/2026/01/19/west-midlands-copper-chief-cops-it-after-copilot-copped-out/4142024). On 12 January he wrote to the committee that the error "arose as result of a use of Microsoft Co Pilot". He retired on 16 January, aged 52, after the Home Secretary said she had no confidence in him.

MPs did not accuse him of deliberately misleading Parliament, [The Register reported on 24 February](https://www.theregister.com/on-prem/2026/02/24/west-midlands-police-earn-red-card-over-copilot-own-goal/4793433): he had not been told before the hearing that AI was used, although its use had already been disclosed inside the force.

What has happened since

• On 26 August 2026 the Independent Office for Police Conduct [said](https://www.policeconduct.gov.uk/news/iopc-update-maccabi-tel-aviv-supporter-ban-investigation) Guildford, three officers and a staff member are under investigation. It sees an indication that three of them, Guildford included, may have committed gross misconduct.
• The staff member "is alleged to have sourced inaccurate information from AI searches and took no subsequent action to help ensure it was not included in briefings". The office adds that a notice of investigation does not mean disciplinary proceedings will follow.
• The inspectorate's [annual report for 2025-26](https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6ae2252cc591dbfc31fb678c/state-of-policing-2025-26-20575748.pdf) lists "the way the force used artificial intelligence in preparing risk assessments" among its concerns and says its final report on safety advisory groups made 37 recommendations. The inspectorate's site refused my request, so the wording of any AI recommendation is not given here.
• Green said the force will use Copilot again, but not until he is "satisfied with the conclusion of what has happened in this case and until we have got broader policy and guidelines in place". No source I can cite says whether it is back on.
• Not disclosed: how many staff had Copilot, under which licence, what was typed into it, whether the force had an AI policy at the time, and what the episode cost.

What to do if you run compliance, legal or IT

• IT: this week, list every AI tool staff can reach on work devices, including the assistants built into search and office software, and give the list to whoever answers for compliance. This force's chief did not know.
• Compliance and legal: for any document that goes to a regulator, court, board or licensing body, require a line saying which statements came from an AI tool and who checked each one against an original record.
• Before anyone signs an attestation or gives evidence that AI was not used, ask the people who did the research, in writing, and keep the reply.