A senior Metropolitan Police Special Constabulary officer has been suspended after alleged sexual content was discovered on his work phone by an artificial intelligence tool developed by US tech giant Palantir Technologies.
Special Chief Officer James Deller, who oversees around 1,200 special constables, is under investigation after the monitoring software triggered an alert linked to his device. SCO Deller was among more than 100 officers flagged by the controversial software, which was introduced last month. He now faces disciplinary action and could ultimately be dismissed if the allegation of having “sexualised content” on the device is upheld. The matter is being treated as a disciplinary rather than a criminal issue. A Met spokesman confirmed: “The officer has not been arrested and there are no criminal allegations.”
How the Palantir system works
The Metropolitan Police spent £487,000 bringing in the AI system as part of a wider internal standards crackdown. Palantir’s platform works by connecting and searching through stores of disconnected datasets that the Met already lawfully possesses, including data held on work phones and laptops. It was deployed over a one-week period, analysing data already accessible to the force to monitor staff and identify potential misconduct ranging from breaches of working-from-home rules to suspected corruption and serious criminal allegations, including rape.
According to the Met Police Federation, the force’s existing Lawful Business Monitoring software was upgraded with Palantir’s analytics layer without officers being informed that the upgrade had introduced the US firm’s technology.
Operation Artificial
The sheer volume of referrals generated by the technology led Scotland Yard to launch a major internal investigation known as Operation Artificial, overseen by the force’s Directorate of Professional Standards. Within just seven days of the system going live, the Professionalism Directorate identified hundreds of potential misconduct breaches and several alleged criminal offences.
Beyond the Deller suspension, the wider fallout has been significant. Two officers have been arrested over separate unspecified allegations, and a further two have been suspended. Ninety-eight officers are being assessed for misconduct, and another 500 have received prevention notices after being flagged for abusing the IT duty-rostering system for personal or financial gain. A further 42 senior leaders are being assessed for non-compliance with the Met’s hybrid working policy, having failed to meet the requirement to attend the office in person at least 80% of the time. Twelve officers face gross misconduct proceedings for failing to declare Freemason membership.
Other officers caught up in the operation have faced allegations including fraud, sexual assault, abuse of authority for sexual purposes, and misconduct in public office.
Federation pushback
The Metropolitan Police Federation, which represents around 30,000 officers, has been sharply critical of the technology. It warned colleagues to be “extremely cautious about carrying Metropolitan Police-issued devices when off duty” and described the approach as “intrusive”. The Federation is weighing legal action, arguing the system breaches officers’ Article 8 privacy rights and GDPR. A Federation spokesman said: “No one wants bad police, but officers do not deserve to be treated with suspicion.”
The Federation also warned that the use of AI would “seriously damage the trust Metropolitan Police officers have in the force and ride a coach and horses through already plummeting morale”.
The wider Palantir contract dispute
Palantir, founded by tech magnate Peter Thiel, a prominent donor to US President Donald Trump, holds contracts with other UK public sector bodies including the NHS and the Ministry of Defence. Scotland Yard had been in talks about using Palantir’s artificial intelligence technology to automate intelligence analysis in criminal investigations.
However, London Mayor Sadiq Khan has blocked the proposed £50 million deal. The mayor’s office said it was not satisfied the procurement process “adequately ensured or demonstrated value for money”, noting that the Met had only engaged with one potential supplier. It is understood that Sir Sadiq expects to speak to the Government about whether a company’s ethics should be considered in procurement processes.
Palantir responded by accusing Khan of “putting politics above safety”.
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