Abstract
In recent years, police agencies have adopted Indigenous cultural designs on police vehicles and uniforms. In 2017, the Western Australia Police unveiled police vehicles branded with Indigenous cultural designs as part of an initiative that aimed to strengthen relationships with the Aboriginal community. This article analyzed one of these vehicles using semiotic analysis. Our analysis shows how the vehicle serves as a sign of symbolic violence and how the unification of “police” and “indigeneity” works to create an amalgam of new meaning, which neutralizes historical and contemporary actualities. We discuss how the initiative keeps structural issues intact and question whether it can be read as a self-interest mechanism of dominant culture rather than a genuine desire to help Aboriginal communities.
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