TL;DR
The Metropolitan Police has confirmed it is using AI tools from US tech company Palantir to monitor staff behaviour, analysing sickness levels, absences and overtime patterns to flag potential misconduct. The Police Federation has criticised the approach as “automated suspicion.”
What the Met Is Doing
Scotland Yard, which had previously declined to confirm or deny its use of Palantir technology, has now acknowledged a time-limited pilot. The system brings together data from multiple internal databases to identify behavioural patterns among the force’s 46,000 officers and staff that may indicate “failings in standards, culture and behaviour.”
The Met said there is “evidence to suggest a correlation between significant levels of sickness, increased absences or unusually high overtime, and failings in standards.” However, the force stressed that Palantir’s systems only identify patterns — human officers then investigate further and make any determinations.
Union and Political Pushback
The Police Federation was sharply critical. A spokesperson said: “Any system that profiles officers using algorithmic patterns must be treated with extreme caution. Policing already operates under some of the broadest and deepest scrutiny of any profession.”
The federation warned that the system risks “misinterpreting unsustainable workload pressures, sickness or overtime as indicators of wrongdoing.”
Liberal Democrat MP Martin Wrigley, a member of the Commons science, innovation and technology select committee, questioned the balance of power: “Palantir seems to be watching over every aspect of government. Who is watching Palantir?”
The Broader Palantir Footprint
The pilot comes as Palantir’s UK public sector presence continues to grow. The company holds a £330 million NHS contract for a federated data platform and a £240 million Ministry of Defence deal. Its AI tools are also available to several other police forces through regional investigations units.
Labour’s policing white paper, published last month, committed more than £115 million over three years to support “rapid and responsible” AI rollout across all 43 forces in England and Wales.
Looking Forward
The pilot sits at the intersection of two pressing debates: how to reform police culture after a series of high-profile failures, and where to draw the line on workplace surveillance. The outcome may set a precedent for AI-driven staff monitoring across UK public services.