Police officers' experience of indigenous 'capacity'

What do the police think they are doing with or to Indigenous Australians? We decided to ask them. The paper examines police officers' beliefs and perceptions about Indigenous 'self-determination' and 'capacity' and the implications of these concepts for their work in Indigenous communities. Before describing interviews conducted in the Kimberley region of Western Australia in late 2009, we will provide context for the concepts of 'self determination' and 'capacity' by reviewing relevant parts of two major inquiries influential on the way that Western Australia Police ('WAPol') intends to work with Indigenous communities. The first is the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, which issued its National Report in 1991, and the second the July 2002 report by the Gordon Inquiry. Using our interview material, we are able to present, from the practitioners' points of view, the implications for police work of some of the concepts issuing from these inquiries.