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Talk about a misleading headline. After months of widespread protests across the UK, the police in West Midlands looked at multiple intelligence reports and co

Talk about a misleading headline. After months of widespread protests across the UK, the police in West Midlands looked at multiple intelligence reports and concluded that protests and violence would be inevitable if the match went ahead and fans from Maccabi Tel Aviv were allowed to travel to Aston Villa's ground. Their advice was that away fans should not be granted tickets to the event. The issues at the core of this decision are about alleged antisemitism rising in the UK, presumed violence of a group of fans with an uncertain intelligence picture, and how decisions were made with these analyses trading off against each other. He resigned because of that process leading to the Home Secretary no longer having confidence in him. I don't think the misleading of the select committee would have helped him, but he gave an answer based on all that he knew at that point in time, with the best of intentions. The fact he hadn't been briefed isn't his fault. The fact he leaned into a decision that had wide-ranging political ramifications without first opening up the discussion to more stakeholders is his fault, and it's why he's no longer in the job.

gtirloni 9mo ago
> Talk about a misleading headline. Something I always expect from TheRegister.
gadders 9mo ago
>>that protests and violence would be inevitable God forbid they enforce the law.
physicsguy 9mo ago
Come on, that's not the full story at all. The body that made the recommendation, the "Safety and Advisory Board" met several times and changed their report multiple times. When it was finally released they redacted large parts of the decision making process including saying that: * The police didn't want the match to go ahead (prior to any evidence for that) * Two local Muslim councillors (Labour and Lib Dem) had been lobbying against it going ahead with one saying (quote) 'we are the voice of the people' Additionally: * They edited the report saying risk to local muslim residents went from Medium -> High * They edited the report saying risk to fans travelling went from High -> Medium. * They adjusted the number of police needed from 1200 -> 5000 in order to try and justify the decision. When the full unredacted report was leaked, then they were put on the back foot and falsely threw out that they'd got the evidence (including of local muslim residents in Amsterdam being thrown in a river, which didn't happen) from a Dutch Police report, which wasn't true. Anyone with a brain in the police should know that recommending cancellation or banning away fans from a Champion's League game is a major international news story. The chief of police needs to be on top of the details and 100% sure that the evidence is there.
- pydry 9mo ago
  The evidence was there. They committed plenty of violence and were loudly and openly racist during their match in Amsterdam. It was pretty telling that this news story hyperfocused on the one AI image and didnt even address all of the actual evidence. Classic PR move.
  - amiga386 9mo ago
    The Dutch police were a lot more fair-handed in giving intelligence to the WMP than you've been here. They made clear that there were indiscriminate antisemitic attacks, and that WMP had made up claims that were not backed by what the Dutch police told them. https://news.sky.com/story/ai-evidence-a-fake-match-and-misleading-mps-what-led-to-the-downfall-of-the-west-midlands-police-chief-goes-beyond-football-13495077 https://news.sky.com/story/ai-evidence-a-fake-match-and-misl... > a section of the Maccabi fan base was filmed engaging in violence in Amsterdam in 2024 and chanting anti-Palestinian racist abuse. That required WMP to contact their Dutch counterparts, who also informed them of the antisemitic violence by locals in Amsterdam, hunting down and kicking Maccabi supporters, leading to the only five convictions. > Dutch police disputed the accuracy of how their Birmingham counterparts used information about the 2024 unrest in Amsterdam, with clear contradictions only able to be highlighted due to leaked WMP documents. > WMP's intelligence assessment claimed that Maccabi fans apparently intentionally targeted Muslim communities in Amsterdam, but the Dutch force told me: "We did not see large groups of Maccabi's (fans) going into Muslim populated areas to target Muslims." > Claims that Maccabi fans threw "innocent members of the public into the river" were also not endorsed by the Dutch.
  - physicsguy 9mo ago
    There is quite possibly an argument that the match should have been cancelled/away fans not issued tickets, the issue is the cover up and dishonesty which is why he has to go.
chrisjj 9mo ago
> He resigned because of that process leading to the Home Secretary no longer having confidence in him. Not according to the news reports. They say e.g. he "blamed what he described as the "political and media frenzy" for his decision to step down."

gtirloni 9mo ago

> Talk about a misleading headline. Something I always expect from TheRegister.

gadders 9mo ago

>>that protests and violence would be inevitable God forbid they enforce the law.

physicsguy 9mo ago

Come on, that's not the full story at all. The body that made the recommendation, the "Safety and Advisory Board" met several times and changed their report multiple times. When it was finally released they redacted large parts of the decision making process including saying that: * The police didn't want the match to go ahead (prior to any evidence for that) * Two local Muslim councillors (Labour and Lib Dem) had been lobbying against it going ahead with one saying (quote) 'we are the voice of the people' Additionally: * They edited the report saying risk to local muslim residents went from Medium -> High * They edited the report saying risk to fans travelling went from High -> Medium. * They adjusted the number of police needed from 1200 -> 5000 in order to try and justify the decision. When the full unredacted report was leaked, then they were put on the back foot and falsely threw out that they'd got the evidence (including of local muslim residents in Amsterdam being thrown in a river, which didn't happen) from a Dutch Police report, which wasn't true. Anyone with a brain in the police should know that recommending cancellation or banning away fans from a Champion's League game is a major international news story. The chief of police needs to be on top of the details and 100% sure that the evidence is there.

pydry 9mo ago
The evidence was there. They committed plenty of violence and were loudly and openly racist during their match in Amsterdam. It was pretty telling that this news story hyperfocused on the one AI image and didnt even address all of the actual evidence. Classic PR move.
- amiga386 9mo ago
  The Dutch police were a lot more fair-handed in giving intelligence to the WMP than you've been here. They made clear that there were indiscriminate antisemitic attacks, and that WMP had made up claims that were not backed by what the Dutch police told them. https://news.sky.com/story/ai-evidence-a-fake-match-and-misleading-mps-what-led-to-the-downfall-of-the-west-midlands-police-chief-goes-beyond-football-13495077 https://news.sky.com/story/ai-evidence-a-fake-match-and-misl... > a section of the Maccabi fan base was filmed engaging in violence in Amsterdam in 2024 and chanting anti-Palestinian racist abuse. That required WMP to contact their Dutch counterparts, who also informed them of the antisemitic violence by locals in Amsterdam, hunting down and kicking Maccabi supporters, leading to the only five convictions. > Dutch police disputed the accuracy of how their Birmingham counterparts used information about the 2024 unrest in Amsterdam, with clear contradictions only able to be highlighted due to leaked WMP documents. > WMP's intelligence assessment claimed that Maccabi fans apparently intentionally targeted Muslim communities in Amsterdam, but the Dutch force told me: "We did not see large groups of Maccabi's (fans) going into Muslim populated areas to target Muslims." > Claims that Maccabi fans threw "innocent members of the public into the river" were also not endorsed by the Dutch.
- physicsguy 9mo ago
  There is quite possibly an argument that the match should have been cancelled/away fans not issued tickets, the issue is the cover up and dishonesty which is why he has to go.

chrisjj 9mo ago

> He resigned because of that process leading to the Home Secretary no longer having confidence in him. Not according to the news reports. They say e.g. he "blamed what he described as the "political and media frenzy" for his decision to step down."