On the final day of this year's sittings of the inquest into the death of Kumanjayi Walker, Northern Territory Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker attended the hearings for the first time to "acknowledge" the proceedings.
WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains an image of a person who has died, used with the permission of their family.
Mr Walker was shot by a police officer during an attempted arrest in the remote community of Yuendumu three years ago.
"I think the inquest is all about a search for the truth," Commissioner Chalker told the ABC outside court.
"I think there's been a fair bit of mischief in the past, this is the opportunity for that to come out."
The Commissioner spent time speaking to members of the Yuendumu community at a gathering across the road from the court, before watching the inquest proceedings for a few minutes.
"[The inquest] has obviously had a strong impact across the agency, but it's also important to catch up with the people from Yuendumu," Mr Chalker said.
"I know the impact this has had across the police force as well as across our community, so I'm showing respect for both sides."
When asked, the Commissioner did not elaborate on what he meant by "mischief in the past" but said, in response to questions about racist text messages and use-of-force by police officers, that he was "trying to set up a police force for the future".
"The establishment of our community resilience and engagement command, growth of our Aboriginal Liaison officers, the work that we want to do with communities … are all designed to try and break down those barriers and ensure we mitigate any likelihood of risk going forward," he said.
Constable Zachary Rolfe was earlier this year found not guilty of any charge related to the death of Mr Walker in 2019.
When he briefly gave evidence to the inquest earlier this month, Constable Rolfe told the court he had returned to work as a police officer shortly after the trial but had been "banned from all police stations" and went on leave again before the inquest began in September.
Commissioner Chalker would not explain why the ban was in place and said he could not answer whether Constable Rolfe would return to work after the inquest.
Psychologist calls for police to be 'trauma-informed'
After the past two weeks of evidence — which largely focused on the police force and Constable Zachary Rolfe — the final witness to be called told the coroner about Kumanjayi Walker as a young child.
Psychologist Kerri-Anne Chilvers, who worked with Mr Walker from the age of 12, told the inquest his behaviour was "out of control" when she first met him but that he was a "caring young man".
The court heard Mr Walker suffered an intellectual disability and showed symptoms of having suffered trauma as a child.
"He shared with me that he had witnessed substance abuse and he's been exposed to substance abuse and family violence," Ms Chilvers said.
Ms Chilvers advocated for police to be "trauma-informed", telling the coroner the training could help officers to avoid triggering "traumatic stress reactions".
She also said Mr Walker "did not have the capacity" to realise that lashing out at police during an arrest could result in injury.
"If [police] had been trauma-informed in their practice, they wouldn't have triggered a traumatic stress reaction in Kumanjayi [on November 9, 2019], Ms Chilvers said.
"So, he wouldn't have reacted by using the scissors and then he wouldn't have been shot."
Constable Rolfe fired his weapon in self-defence after Mr Walker stabbed him in the shoulder with a pair of scissors during the attempted arrest.
'Surreal and overwhelming' end to this year's hearings
Kumanjayi Walker's cousin, Samara Fernandez-Brown, said the end of proceedings for the year was "surreal and overwhelming".
"I'm feeling really emotional about the information that was shared today and overwhelmed with the fact that we've been here for three months," Ms Fernandez-Brown said.
"It was really emotional to … humanise Kumanjayi in a way we haven't seen."
The inquest is scheduled to resume for two weeks in February for further evidence to be called.
Final submissions are expected to be made in April, before the coroner retires to write her findings and recommendations.
"It feels like the journey's never-ending but just knowing we're not coming back to court tomorrow or the following week feels very, very surreal and overwhelming," Ms Fernandez-Brown said.
Reflecting on the past three months of evidence and the coroner's visit to Yuendumu, the Warlpiri woman said the community felt "involved" in the coronial process.
"It feels significantly different in terms of having community involved and feeling as though we do have a seat at the table, that we're able to convey the messages that we want to," she said.
"From the judge, there feels [like there's] this sense of collaboration and willingness to listen and to be able to create a change."
