Victoria Police has expressed "extreme disappointment" in one of its officers for the second time in two days, after screenshots of his Facebook page displaying alt-right material were shared on social media.
Key points:
- The OK symbol is believed to have become associated with the far-right in 2017
- Victoria Police first said "any suggestion the [officer] was signalling [anything other than OK] was untrue"
- But it has since announced it is looking into the possibility of further action after far-right memes were uncovered on the officer's since-deleted social media page
The officer was pictured with his thumb and index finger making an 'OK' sign towards protesters at a climate rally in Melbourne this week, sparking claims he was using the gesture as a "white power" symbol.
The 'OK' sign has been co-opted by the far-right, according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), an international NGO that aims to "fight anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry", taking on a new significance after a 2017 4chan hoax.
The prank saw members of the anonymous social network "falsely promote the gesture as a hate symbol, claiming the gesture represented the letters 'WP' for 'white power'," according to the ADL.
It became so successful that it morphed into "a popular trolling tactic on the part of right-leaning individuals".
The symbol's surge in popularity in turn led to "at least some white supremacists [abandoning] the ironic or satiric intent behind the original trolling campaign and used the symbol as a sincere expression of white supremacy" by 2019.
In their first acknowledgement of the officer's hand gesture on Thursday, Victoria Police said it had spoken to the officer and confirmed he had made the symbol to ask if protesters were OK.
"The protest activity is extremely dynamic with megaphones, sirens and loud chanting making it difficult to hear so hand signals are often used," the statement said.
"Any suggestion to indicate the member was signalling anything else is completely untrue and Victoria Police considers this matter closed."
Victoria Police backtrack as alt-right memes come to light
However, Victoria Police has since shared another statement in relation to the officer after a social media page that appeared to show far-right memes posted by the officer came to light.
On Saturday, police released a statement via Facebook saying they were aware of the incident, and aware of previous posts to the police officer's social media page, which has since been deleted.
The statement added: "In relation to the hand gesture, we have reviewed body-worn camera footage of the incident and it's inconclusive.
"The footage does not capture both sides of the interaction and is at times obscured by structures and people.
"We have spoken extensively to the officer in question and he has advised the hand gesture was simply the 'are you OK' sign directed at two protesters who looked distressed," Victoria Police reiterated.
"In regards to his social media page, we are aware of a small number of posts which include inappropriate memes.
"Under no circumstances are these posts reflective of the values of Victoria Police."
The officer has been spoken to about the posts, and, the statement continued: "Although they were made more than 12 months ago, he is aware of our extreme disappointment.
"While officers are entitled to have personal social media accounts, we do not want or expect them to be including content which may offend members of the community."
Victoria Police said it was in the process of determining whether further action would be required.
It comes after another Victoria Police officer involved in responding to climate protests was photographed wearing a sticker with a slogan reading "EAD hippy" — with the letters EAD often used to mean "eat a dick" — on his body camera.
In a statement, Victoria Police confirmed the image was genuine, also saying it was "extremely disappointed" by that officer's actions.
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