Met Police fires volunteer force chief after Palantir AI uncovers deleted intimate images

The head of the Metropolitan Police's volunteer officer corps has been dismissed after an artificial intelligence system deployed by the force detected that he had copied intimate images of a woman onto his police-issued phone and then attempted to erase the evidence.

Special chief officer James Deller, who led the Met's Special Constabulary, was removed from his post following a misconduct hearing held on Friday. The hearing concluded that his conduct amounted to a serious breach of the trust placed in him as a senior leader of volunteer officers serving the British capital.

According to the Met, investigators relied on lawful business monitoring procedures combined with Palantir's Foundry platform, an AI-driven system capable of analysing large volumes of data for patterns of wrongdoing, to identify Deller's misconduct. The case marks one of the most striking examples yet of how the force is using the controversial technology to police its own ranks.

Commander Pete Stevens said Deller had fallen short of the standards expected of someone in his position. He described the conduct as an abuse of trust and said it was appropriate that Deller could no longer serve in policing. Stevens stressed that the overwhelming majority of Met officers and staff carry out their duties with dedication and integrity, and that they expect firm action against the small minority who misuse their authority and damage public confidence.

The misconduct took place in July and August 2025, when Deller used his work phone to photograph two intimate images that had been sent to his personal device. The pictures had been shared through WhatsApp's "view once" function, a feature designed to make images disappear after they have been opened a single time. Deller then transmitted the copied images back to his personal phone before deleting them from his police device, apparently in an attempt to conceal what he had done.

The matter came to light during a week-long operation codenamed Project Galatasaray, which used AI technology in an effort to identify corruption and professional misconduct within the Met. As a result of the hearing, Deller will be placed on the College of Policing's barred list, preventing him from working in policing again.

Stevens added that members of the Special Constabulary deserve to be led by people who uphold the highest standards in every aspect of their lives. He noted that special constables are volunteers who give up their time without payment to help keep London safe, and that those who lead them must be held to particularly exacting standards.

The dismissal is likely to intensify the debate over the Met's use of Palantir, a US data analytics company founded by the controversial tech billionaire Peter Thiel. The force's dealings with the firm have already attracted criticism from the office of London's mayor. The London Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime blocked the Met from signing a two-year contract with Palantir to supply AI technology for criminal investigations, saying the force had failed to set out its procurement strategy properly and describing the omission as a clear and serious breach of procedure.

Palantir is now suing the mayor's office, alleging that it unlawfully blocked the deal by taking the company's values and ethics into account, which the firm argues was an irrelevant consideration. The company holds contracts with a number of UK public bodies, including the NHS and the Ministry of Defence.

Concerns about the Met's monitoring capabilities surfaced earlier this year. In April, the Metropolitan Police Federation, which represents rank-and-file officers, urged members to be extremely cautious about carrying Met-issued devices while off duty after the force upgraded its Lawful Business Monitoring software. The federation's general secretary, Matt Cane, said staff had not been told that the upgrade included the introduction of Palantir's artificial intelligence technology, in what appeared to be its first deployment to monitor Met systems.

In May, Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner Matt Jukes told the London Assembly's Police and Crime Committee that officers were not under any additional surveillance in the workplace following the force's adoption of AI to root out bad behaviour. He acknowledged that the Met had weighed the reputational risks of using what he called divisive technology, but said it helped identify unacceptable, dishonest and corrosive behaviours among officers.

The political backdrop is also significant. Prime Minister Andy Burnham is facing growing pressure from Labour MPs and trade unions to end government contracts with Palantir. Former Labour deputy leader Tom Watson, who recently joined the company, warned against what he described as mob rule in government procurement. Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Political Thinking With Nick Robinson, Lord Watson said his former colleagues should consider whether the rule of law or mob rule should lead procurement practice, adding that following the latter path would lead to serious trouble.

The case raises broader questions about privacy, oversight and the balance between catching wrongdoing and subjecting public servants to pervasive digital scrutiny. While the Met presents the AI system as a tool for uncovering misconduct that might otherwise remain hidden, critics argue that the expansion of such monitoring requires far greater transparency and democratic accountability. For the Special Constabulary, the dismissal of its most senior officer leaves both a leadership vacuum and a reputational challenge, at a time when volunteer officers are being asked to uphold public trust in policing more visibly than ever.