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Deputy Chief Constable Scott Green steps into the top role at West Midlands Police as the chief retires. Craig Guildford left the force after losing the confidence of the Home Secretary and facing calls from many others to resign after the Maccabi Tel Aviv football fans row escalated last week.
On his last day in office, Guildford said: “I have come to the conclusion that the political and media frenzy around myself and my position has become detrimental to all the great work undertaken by my officers and staff in serving communities across the West Midlands.” He concluded that his retirement was “in the best interests of the organisation.”
Police and Crime Commissioner Simon Foster welcomed Guildford’s decision to retire saying that the chief had “acted with honour and in the best interests of West Midlands Police.” Foster was at pains to emphasise the legal process of reviewing the chief’s performance and had said that decisions about Guildford would have to wait until an internal governance meeting on 27 January.
West Midlands Police was under pressure after their advice to the safety advisory group prior to a football match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Aston Villa recommended that the away fans were banned from the match that took place in November last year.
Guildford appeared in front of the Home Affairs Committee in early January and since then a letter from His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary set out the force’s short comings and said the force had suffered from ‘confirmation bias’ in its advice to the safety advisory group.
The PCC appointed West Mids Police Deputy Chief Constable Scott Green to act up as chief constable and confirmed that they had already met “to discuss the actions that the force must take to re-build trust and confidence among all the people and communities of the West Midlands.” That includes, he added, ” addressing the significant matters identified in the letter from HMIC.”
The Acting Chief Constable has appointed Jen Mattinson to be Acting Deputy Chief Constable.
Read more on this and the Home Secretary’s decision to change legislation to give her powers to sack chief constables.
