Scotland Yard officers have threatened to sue their 'Big Brother bosses' after an AI programme uncovered hundreds engaged in misconduct and criminality. In an unprecedented crackdown, Britain's biggest force secretly deployed an AI tool to root out bad behaviour, letting it loose on internal systems monitoring sickness levels, overtime, expenses, entry to buildings, and public complaints.
Controversial AI Tool from Palantir
The artificial intelligence tool was supplied by the US tech company Palantir, which also works for the Israeli military and Donald Trump's ICE operation. This weekend, the Mail revealed how the AI tool found officers engaged in serious corruption and criminality, including abuse of authority for sexual purposes, fraud, and sexual assault. Some senior officers had been abusing Met systems for years, logging false overtime claims, scamming systems for extra days off, lying about working from home, and hiding their membership of the freemasons.
Legal Action Over Privacy Invasion
Now the Metropolitan Police Federation is taking legal advice about a possible claim for invasion of privacy. The staff organisation, representing 30,000 rank-and-file officers, has warned members it is risky to take work phones and other digital devices home for fear of being monitored by the force. In a week-long AI pilot run without staff knowledge, Palantir analysed internal systems, unearthing evidence of officers sexually harassing colleagues and abusing HR systems for extra pay. As a result, 100 officers are being investigated for gross misconduct, and 615 have received warning notices.
The secret operation has left officers furious, fearing that geo-location tracking and monitoring off duty has led to a 'presumption of wrongdoing'. The Federation is considering a legal claim against the force over the right to a private life under Article 8 of the Human Rights Act. Matt Cane, General Secretary of the Metropolitan Police Federation, said: 'Courageous colleagues across London do not deserve to be treated with this level of suspicion by their Big Brother Bosses. Police officers - like all people - have a right to a private life. Where is the transparency on this purge and the reassurance that the correct checks and balances are there on such a significant move? This use of AI will seriously damage the trust Metropolitan Police officers have in the force and ride a coach and horses through already plummeting morale.'
He added: 'No one wants bad police officers in policing. The good, brave and hard-working officers we represent are the first to say that the small minority of officers who are not fit to serve should not be in the police service. But this use of AI to spy on our officers is not proportionate, just or proper. It's an outrageous and unforgivable invasion of privacy.'
Met Commissioner Defends AI Use
This weekend, Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley told the Mail he wanted to use AI to 'dig down' and uncover rogue officers whose bad behaviour had not been spotted. 'We've made all this effort on integrity, the biggest such initiative ever - 1500 officers dismissed, but we've still got further to dig down for the people who are determined not to change,' he said. 'Those numbers (of officer wrongdoing discovered) are extraordinary.' Almost 600 notices have been sent out regarding suspected abuse of the IT shift system for personal gain. Another 42 senior officers face losing their jobs after lying about being in the office when they were working from home, breaching Met guidelines requiring 80 per cent office attendance. Twelve officers face gross misconduct proceedings for not declaring freemason membership. Three officers have been suspended and two arrested for abusing their role.
Palantir's UK Contracts Under Scrutiny
Palantir has been caught up in the ongoing row over Peter Mandelson's role as Keir Starmer's ambassador to the US before he was sacked over links to Jeffrey Epstein. A lobbying firm Lord Mandelson co-owned, Global Counsel, works for Palantir, which was co-founded by the Trump-supporting tech billionaire Peter Thiel. Lord Mandelson and Sir Keir visited Palantir's technology showroom in Washington DC last year and met its chief executive, Alex Karp, shortly after the peer's appointment. MPs want greater transparency over Palantir's public sector contracts in the UK, including a £330 million deal signed with the NHS in November 2023 to provide a federated data platform, and a £240 million contract agreed with the Ministry of Defence in December 2025.
