An internal Victoria Police investigation has found claims Senior Constable Travis Gray’s hand gesture was used as a ‘white power’ symbol are “not substantiated”. Photo by Kim Stern

A Victoria Police officer who flashed a controversial ‘okay symbol’ at anti-mining protesters and was reprimanded for posting images associated with white supremacist groups online has been cleared by an internal investigation of any wrongdoing.

Professional Standards Command began probing Senior Constable Travis Gray’s social media use after he was reported to have posted images closely associated with the notorious 4chan online forum to his Facebook page.

Investigators also grilled the officer over a hand gesture that protesters claimed was a ‘white power’ symbol during fiery clashes at the International Mining and Resources Conference in Melbourne last October.

Video also circulated of Senior Constable Gray striking a protester, with Victoria Police issuing a statement that the action was a “clearance technique” known as a “palm strike”.

“This is a commonly applied clearance move in dynamic public order scenarios which is designed to create distance from police and protesters so that both police and protesters can be protected from further violence,” it stated.

Police made more than 100 arrests during the protests and were highly critical of the picket, however a scathing report issued by independent legal observers found police had set out to antagonise protesters and “set a tone of violence from the outset”.

Professional Standards questioned Senior Constable Gray about the hand gesture and the use on his personal Facebook page of Pepe The Frog and Wojak memes popular among the alt-right.

The investigation report, which has not been made publicly available, found that although the images proliferated among online users “who delight in creating racist memes and imagery”, the allegations against the officer were “not substantiated”.

“The Pepe the Frog character did not originally have racist or anti-Semitic connotations… the majority of uses of Pepe the Frog have been, and continue to be, non-bigoted,” the report stated. “The image shown on the member’s Facebook account was not of a racist tone.”

Senior Constable Gray told the investigating sergeant that he had chosen the Wojak or “feel guy” avatar as his profile picture because it looked like him.

“The member having been spoken to refers this image to his own likeness, not wishing to have his own profile picture,” the report stated. “At the time of been [sic] spoken to he was not aware that these images could be interpreted differently.”

The finding comes despite Victoria Police issuing a statement at the time of the incident expressing “extreme disappointment” at the use of the images.

“In regards to his social media page, we are aware of a small number of posts which include inappropriate memes,” the statement said. “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.”

The Professional Standards investigation also accepted Senior Constable Gray’s denial that he used the okay symbol as a reference to white supremacy.

An unnamed police officer who witnessed the incident backed his assertion that he was checking on the safety of protesters.

The officer told investigators that the gesture was made towards three people who were staring at Senior Constable Gray, so he was checking that they were okay.

The photographer who took the image disputes the claim, saying that he and the protesters should have been interviewed for their version of events.