West Midlands Police

West Midlands Police switched off force-wide access to Microsoft Copilot in January 2026 after the tool generated false intelligence about a West Ham versus Maccabi Tel Aviv fixture, and associated disorder, that had never taken place. The fabricated information reached briefing material and shaped a risk assessment.

Recorded as paused rather than discontinued. Acting Chief Constable Scott Green described the shutdown as temporary, in place until further notice, both in January and again in March 2026. No evidence of reinstatement had emerged as of August 2026, but a force describing a suspension as temporary is not the same as a decision to stop using a technology permanently, and this tracker records the difference.

The force initially denied that AI had generated the erroneous intelligence; the Chief Constable subsequently corrected that evidence. The Home Affairs Committee reported in February 2026 that West Midlands Police failed to apply proper due diligence to false information generated by AI, and criticised what it called a remarkable lack of professional curiosity.

This pause did not extend nationally. A Sky News survey published in February 2026 found at least 21 English forces still using Microsoft Copilot.