TL;DR
At least 21 police forces in England continue to use Microsoft Copilot AI despite West Midlands Police blocking the tool after a “hallucination” produced fabricated evidence used to ban Israeli football fans. Only eight forces confirmed Copilot cannot be used in investigations.
The Maccabi Tel Aviv Fallout
West Midlands Police turned off Copilot access after admitting — following initial denials — that the AI fabricated a football match that never happened. The fictitious event was included in an intelligence document used to justify excluding Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from attending a match against Aston Villa in November 2025.
The controversy escalated into one of the biggest policing scandals of 2025, eventually leading to the forced departure of West Midlands chief constable Craig Guildford. MPs on the Home Affairs Select Committee have since highlighted fresh concerns after Copilot produced further inaccurate claims about disorder at a 2024 Maccabi match in Amsterdam.
The Committee found that “proper due diligence was not applied.” West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner Simon Foster said there were “significant concerns, shortcomings, and failures” in how AI was regulated during the operation.
A Disjointed National Approach
Sky News’s investigation found that most English forces still permit officers to use Copilot, with some admitting they use the free consumer chat product rather than the enterprise version designed for workplace governance.
Police in Scotland and Northern Ireland do not allow Copilot. North Wales and Dyfed-Powys have also blocked it. Greater Manchester Police defended its use, citing a “robust AI policy” aimed at freeing officers from desk work. West Yorkshire said staff receive “education and guidance on how to use it responsibly.”
The National Police Chiefs’ Council said it was “confident that the potential benefits of using AI outweigh the risks” but left decisions to individual forces — creating exactly the fragmented landscape that critics warn is inadequate.
Looking Forward
Microsoft pointed to differences between its enterprise 365 Copilot (which works within an organisation’s own data and access controls) and the free consumer product. The company said it “continuously evaluates” its services and urged organisations to use Copilot within their own governance practices. As the government prepares to invest £115m in a national police AI centre, the Maccabi scandal underlines the gap between AI ambition and the operational safeguards needed to support it.