Derrick Quarm (pictured) complained the comment by a detective was ‘overtly racist’ because it referred to the black and ethnic minority population in Lambeth, South London

Senior officers failed to investigate a policeman who compared an inner-city borough to ‘Planet of the Apes’ in the aftermath of the 2011 London riots, it was claimed yesterday.

Black officer Derrick Quarm complained the comment by a detective was ‘overtly racist’ because it referred to the black and ethnic minority population in Lambeth, South London.

But he said senior managers attempted to ‘bury the incident’.

DC Quarm said he found it ‘incredible’ that managers failed to investigate the comment – allegedly made in the days of heightened racial tension after the police shooting of Mark Duggan, which sparked the London riots and looting – for almost three years.

The plain clothes officer claimed it was investigated only after he included it in a report about his experiences of alleged racism, corruption and cover-ups within policing in Lambeth.

The force was described as ‘institutionally racist’ by the inquiry into the murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence and Mr Quarm said his experiences showed it had not done enough to combat racism among its own officers.

But his attempts to force Scotland Yard to address the problem resulted in him facing a campaign of ‘detriment and hostility’, he told an employment tribunal.

The former paratrooper said his senior officers falsely accused him of incompetence and lying in an attempt to discredit him as a whistleblower, and called their behaviour ‘classic school ground bullying’.

He was treated as a ‘troublemaker’, accused of losing evidence in a stabbing case and overloaded with paperwork to punish him for speaking out, he said.

Disturbingly, he told South London Employment Tribunal in Croydon that his senior officers’ behaviour had hindered his police work and even stopped him from preventing a murder.

DC Quarm, who has served in the Metropolitan Police for 18 years, said he had attempted to raise his concerns with the force’s commissioner, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, and other top-ranking officers.

Mr Quarm's attempts to force Scotland Yard to address the problem resulted in him facing a campaign of ‘detriment and hostility’, he told an employment tribunal

But he claimed the ‘Planet of the Apes’ comment, allegedly made by DS Matthew Price, was investigated only after he raised it at a previous employment tribunal, in which he unsuccessfully accused the Met of race discrimination.

DC Quarm said: ‘In early August 2011 after the shooting of Mark Duggan, there were several witnesses to DS Price in Lambeth commenting “It’s like being in Planet of the Apes” in reference to the numbers of BAME [black and minority ethnic] people around him.

‘I expressed concern that no formal investigation had taken place into this incident. There was a clear breach of policy and legislation, including the Public Order Act 1986 that was not investigated.

DC Quarm claimed senior officers failed to investigate a policeman who compared an inner-city borough to ‘Planet of the Apes’ in the aftermath of the 2011 London riots (file picture)

'To my mind the SLT [senior leadership team] managers who had made the decision to bury the incident were at fault … I found it incredible that the Lambeth SLT decision makers would buck policy and legislation then protect DS Price’s behaviour.’

DC Quarm, 41, said Lambeth referred the 2011 incident to the Independent Police Complaints Commission in 2014 only after he had raised concerns in his previous employment tribunal.

The police watchdog referred it back to the Met with a recommendation that the force’s own professional standards department should investigate.

Punished for speaking out

The employment tribunal was told the internal probe found DS Price had no case to answer.

DC Quarm told the hearing he had unearthed a ‘white collar criminal network’ in Lambeth but was ‘portrayed as a pathological liar’ after reporting his findings, and claimed his previous managers briefed his new bosses in a different borough that he ‘played the race card’.

He has previously lost two employment tribunals in which he accused the Met of overlooking him for promotion because of race discrimination.

The Met disputes his version of events, given during a current employment tribunal in which DC Quarm claims he was treated unfairly after coming forward as a whistleblower.