Met officers could sue 'Big Brother Bosses' after Mail revealed Scotland Yard used AI to pry on phones

By REBECCA CAMBER, CRIME AND SECURITY EDITOR Published: 23:05, 27 April 2026 | Updated: 23:30, 27 April 2026 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 unleashed an AI tool to root out bad behaviour letting it loose on internal systems which monitor sickness levels, overtime, expenses, entry to buildings and public complaints. The controversial 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 the abuse of authority for sexual purposes, fraud and sexual assault. Some senior officers had been abusing Met systems for years, logging false claims for overtime, scamming systems to get extra days off, lying about working from home and hiding their membership of the freemasons. Now the Metropolitan Police Federation is taking legal advice about a possible claim for invasion of privacy. The staff organisation, which represents 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 snooped on by the force. In a week-long AI pilot, which was run without staff and officers knowing, Palantir analysed internal systems unearthing evidence of officers sexually harassing colleagues and abusing HR systems to earn extra pay. Scotland Yard officers have threatened to sue their 'Big Brother bosses' after an AI programme uncovered hundreds engaged in misconduct and criminality The controversial artificial intelligence tool was supplied by the US tech company Palantir, which also works for the Israeli military and Donald Trump's ICE operation 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 of officers when they are off duty has led to a 'presumption of wrongdoing'. Now the Federation is considering a legal claim against the force over the rights of officers to have private life under Article 8 of the Human Rights Act. 'Courageous colleagues across London do not deserve to be treated with this level of suspicion by their Big Brother Bosses,' said Matt Cane, General Secretary of the Metropolitan Police Federation. '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. '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.' This weekend, Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley (pictured) told the Mail he wanted to use AI to 'dig down' uncovering rogue officers whose bad behaviour had not hitherto been spotted He said no one was aware of the AI 'purge' being deployed: 'This continuous 24/7 geo-location tracking is highly intrusive and risks monitoring officers when they are off duty, on rest days, or at home. This presumption of wrongdoing and attack on officer's personal lives is unacceptable. 'Overall, the draconian approach raises significant legal and privacy concerns.' This weekend, Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley told the Mail he wanted to use AI to 'dig down' uncovering rogue officers whose bad behaviour had not hitherto 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 told the Mail. 'Those numbers (of officer wrongdoing discovered) are extraordinary.' Almost 600 notices have been sent out regarding the 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 in breach of Met guidelines, which state they must be in the office at least 80 per cent of their time. There are also 12 officers facing gross misconduct proceedings for not declaring that they are freemasons. Three officers have been suspended and two arrested for abusing their role. 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 his 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 £330million deal signed with the NHS in November 2023 to provide a federated data platform, and a £240million contract agreed with the Ministry of Defence in December 2025. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? 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