Met’s volunteer police chief dismissed over images on work phone
James Deller, head of the Special Constabulary, will be added to the College of Policing’s barred list after an accelerated misconduct hearing on 9 October.
Special Chief Officer James Deller, head of the Metropolitan Police’s Special Constabulary, has been dismissed without notice after using a police-issued work phone to photograph images of a sexual nature, the Met said on 9 October.
An accelerated misconduct hearing on 9 October found that on two occasions, in July and August 2025, Deller photographed the images with the work phone after they had been sent to a personal device. The Met said the images were first sent to Deller through WhatsApp’s “View Once” function. Deller sent both photographs from the work phone to the personal one, then deleted them.
The Met said the case came to light through Project Galatasaray, a week of action using advanced technologies to tackle corruption and professional misconduct in the force. In Deller’s case, lawful business monitoring and Palantir’s Foundry system helped identify the images and other key evidence.
Commander Pete Stevens said: “The vast majority of Met officers and staff serve London with dedication and integrity, and they rightly expect robust action against the small minority who abuse their position and undermine public trust.”
Stevens said members of the Special Constabulary “are volunteers who selflessly give up their time to keep London safe” and “deserve to be led by people who demonstrate the highest standards in all parts of their lives”. Deller “failed to meet that bar”, Stevens said, and the actions were “an abuse of the trust put in him”.
Deller will be added to the College of Policing’s barred list and will not be eligible to serve in policing again, the Met said.
The Met said it is reviewing the future leadership and structure of the Special Constabulary as part of ongoing work to improve professional standards.
The Met has described its use of Palantir before. On 24 June, Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said the force had created a pilot with the company, “first focused on integrity problems within the Met”, and had brought together data on around 45,000 people across the organisation. Rowley said the force was “no longer reliant solely on concerns being raised by colleagues or victims coming forward”. The Met’s statement on Deller did not say whether Deller’s case was part of that pilot.
