Recommendation 4

Given the damage caused to community relations by the decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans, it is surprising and disappointing that Assistant Chief Constable O’Hara was not more precise in his remarks about whether Jewish representatives had supported the ban. However, we note his personal apology to representatives of the local Jewish community and have no evidence to suggest that ACC O’Hara intended to mislead the Committee on this point. More concerning is the fact that the Safety Advisory Group was incorrectly briefed on several occasions that the Jewish community had been consulted; West Midlands Police clearly believed that consulting the Community Security Trust was equivalent to consulting the Jewish community and did not attach significant priority to engaging the local community directly. This falls some way short of the level and quality of community engagement that the Birmingham residents are entitled to expect from their police service. (Conclusion, Paragraph 21)