'Expect police attention if you're wearing a balaclava on a sunny day'

The chief constable of West Midlands Police has warned that anyone wearing a balaclava on a sunny day can expect to receive police attention.

Scott Green was appointed as the force's permanent chief constable in September, having served as interim chief constable following the departure of Craig Guildford in January.

Green was speaking as part of a hot seat on BBC Radio WM, where anti-social behaviour was a recurrent theme of listeners' questions.

Read our takeaways from the interview below or listen to an excerpt of the interview here.

Two callers questioned Green about face coverings, including a representative from a women's walking group in Solihull, who said the group had experienced anti-social behaviour towards them in the town centre.

One man from Dudley asked Green if a balaclava ban could be implemented in the town, referencing Nottingham's ban of balaclavas which was enforced on 15 September.

The ban allows authorities to ask people to take them off if they "reasonably believe" they are being used to commit crime or anti-social behaviour - with anyone refusing facing a £70 fine.

The caller, Mitch, said youths wearing them were "causing havoc in the local community."

Green said that while legislation was the government's job, the force had the power to get people to remove face coverings.

"There's a relatively new power in relation to, particularly, issues around protest where a designated officer can put in place a restriction on face coverings, and there is civil legislation," he said.

He added that some local authorities had put Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPOs) in place, in partnership with police, to ban face coverings.

"What I would say though is this. On a autumnal day like today with the sun shining, if you're walking around one of our towns or city centres wearing a balaclava, you can expect the attention of our officers," Green said.

"And that's not unreasonable because we would all feel intimidated by somebody with a face covering."

Sasha, from the women's walking group, also said that members of her group did not see any police or PCSOs in Solihull town centre in the evening.

Green said the force was reviewing the balance between different policing teams, "so we never have to divert our neighbourhood officers away from the important function that they perform."

He added: "And that I am hopeful will give us more presence in our towns and cities and within our communities, both during the daytime but also, as you rightly say, into the evening so that we will be more visible."

Green was also asked by a man called Sean: "Why are victims feeling left abandoned and expected to fight for justice for themselves?"

Sean said his experience of going to his local police station was that evidence was "kind of not even looked at" and told it was a civil matter, not a police matter.

"It's just been a really traumatic experience," he said.

"I feel really let down."

Green responded: "If we've let you down, then I offer my apologies to you if we've missed something."

He also said his team would ensure that Sean would get a phone call from someone within the force.

Green added: "If a matter is reported to as a crime, my commitment to the public is we will investigate all crimes. That is my commitment."

The number of positive outcomes at West Midlands Police - meaning an offender has faced action such as being charged or cautioned - has reached 16%.

Green said the force had been in special measures several years ago and had the lowest solved crime rate, of less than 3%.

He said the current figure was higher than the national average and that the highest level in the country was "probably about 20%".

"The reassurance I would give to everybody is that our solved rate is the fastest improved in the country and continues to improve," he added.

A listener called Darren spoke to Green about his neighbour, who he said was "constantly drinking and using hard drugs".

He said: "I believe he has had his licence revoked, he is driving his car, no MOT no insurance.

"He is driving around and it's been reported enough times, it's getting ridiculous. Who are we going to blame if he kills somebody?"

Green said he would endeavour to get the person's details and said "we will take action."

"We do regularly get intelligence about people that are driving particularly whilst disqualified and we do regularly take action because they put all of us in danger when they're doing so," he said.

West Midlands Police received criticism over its use of artificial intelligence (AI) in a report which contributed to the decision to ban Israeli Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from a match at Aston Villa on 6 November 2025.

Eight errors were found in the report, including a reference to a non-existent game between Maccabi and West Ham, believed to have been hallucinated by Microsoft Copilot.

It had previously been indicated that Green had banned the force's use of AI, but the chief constable clarified that he had instituted a temporary ban of Microsoft Copilot.

"The bit that I turned off was Copilot. We will, alongside lots of other forces, we will eventually turn Copilot back on," he said.

Green added the force still used AI to answer telephone calls and to review CCTV footage in homicide investigations.

The chief constable said eventually Copilot would be switched on for a small number of users and everyone with access would have undergone a mandatory training course and sign an annual declaration form saying the work produced would be owned by the user and not AI.

He added that he thought AI would be used more in policing in the future but the force needed to be careful, hence they were taking "those iterative, cautious steps".

"I want to bring the advantages and the strengths of AI into policing and into policing the West Midlands Police," he said.