A policeman who was filmed “fist bumping” a gang leader outside court after the man was acquitted of murder was simply responding instinctively to a gesture of acknowledgment, according to Police Commissioner Michael DeSilva.

The head of Bermuda Police Service told The Royal Gazette yesterday that the “harmless” exchange between the uniformed male inspector and Parkside’s Prince Edness, watched by thousands of viewers on Friday evening’s television news, had to be viewed in context.

He said the incident, after Mr Edness was cleared by a Supreme Court jury of the 2006 murder of 18-year-old Jason Lightbourne, would likely fuel persistent false rumours that BPS favoured one gang over another.

But Mr DeSilva insisted such claims were without substance.

“Prince Edness is a self-identified leading member of the Parkside gang and the timing of the incident — as he was being released from police custody following his acquittal for murder — will no doubt cause a small number of conspiracy theorists to have a field day,” he said.

“From time to time rumours are circulated that the police are ‘in bed’ with one gang or another. Previously, the BPS was accused of favouring the 42nd Street gang and more recently that we are protecting the Parkside gang.

“The fact that I continue to state that these assertions are not true doesn’t seem to stop the false rumours from flaring up again periodically.

“After Edness exited Hamilton Police Station, he can be seen on the video to be acting in an animated fashion. The officer involved called Edness over and discreetly encouraged him to calm down.

“Edness did, in fact, calm down and he can be seen to extend his fist, in what is perhaps the most common form of acknowledgment in Bermuda. The officer responded instinctively, as most people would do. There is simply nothing more sinister that can be extrapolated from that encounter.”

Mr DeSilva described the interaction as “harmless” and said any other officer would have responded in the same way.

“Edness put his fist out to say ‘okay, no problem’ and the officer touched his fist. That happens a thousand times a day. It’s a very common occurrence.

“Certainly we expect our officers to be aware that they are constantly in the public view and they have to conduct themselves accordingly.

“But imagine if we said to our staff ‘don’t fist bump anyone’ just in case it gets taken out of context. That would be quite silly and it’s not like the officer hugged him or did anything that demonstrated any sort of affection or support or anything else.”

The Commissioner admitted that after viewing the short clip he was concerned that others who saw the footage would draw the wrong conclusions.

“Timing is everything so if you subscribe to the conspiracy theory then that would have been the proof that you were looking for” he said.

“Even if you hadn’t heard about the conspiracy, it would have been probably unsettling to see what … comes across as a positive interaction between a member of the community, a member of the public, and a police officer.

“So if you put the context that ten minutes before that he was on trial for murder that would be uncomfortable for some viewers. That’s why we thought it was important to explain timing and context and in the context there really is nothing happening.”

He said the message he wanted to get across was that BPS was not “in bed” with any gang and its track record on tackling gang violence attested to that.

“We’ve arrested a lot of gang members, we’ve charged a lot of gang members, we’ve convicted three out of every four cases that have gone to Supreme Court since 2010 for serious violence offences.

“The firearm incidents have come down since 2010 so our track record against gangs and violence, I would like to think that casts some serious doubt on the Parkside theory, which quite frankly, I don’t have a clue what it’s based on. I’ve never heard anything of substance.

“Two of the primary roles of the police are to protect life and to bring offenders to justice. We do this without fear or favour and no one in this country enjoys our protection from prosecution.

“The jury has spoken in the Prince Edness trial, so that matter is closed. But the police effort continues in working to solve every open murder case so that justice can be served in those matters.”