Police Legitimacy and Indigenous Self-Determination: Towards a Decolonised Dialogue

Bryden, MK

Police Legitimacy and Indigenous Self-Determination: Towards a Decolonised Dialogue

Bryden, MK

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Publisher:: Queensland University of Technology
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Bryden, MK
dc.date.accessioned	2026-06-30T22:06:02Z
dc.date.available	2026-06-30T22:06:02Z
dc.identifier.citation	International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy
dc.identifier.issn	2202-7998
dc.identifier.issn	2202-8005
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/195489
dc.description.abstract	<jats:p>In settler states, police are used to establish and maintain colonial order, suppress Indigenous resistance, and secure state authority. Today, Indigenous people experience disproportionate rates of police contact that emerged during colonisation. Yet, mainstream scholarship on legitimacy has largely ignored Indigenous perspectives on policing, the wider context of settler colonialism, and questions of self-determination. This article focuses on police legitimacy and Indigenous self-determination in Australia, with implications for other settler states. I argue that Indigenous self-determination cannot be achieved without legitimate forms of social control. Building on the theorising of Beetham (1991) and Bottoms and Tankebe (2012), this article suggests that decolonised legitimacy dialogues are necessary to understand how Indigenous peoples conceptualise legitimate policing. A decolonised dialogue acknowledges policing’s colonial origins and its ongoing role in settler societies, the Western philosophies underlying legitimacy theory, and the need to centre Indigenous self-determination. I propose that “police” legitimacy can be enhanced via two pathways: (1) through reforms within state structures and/or (2) through Indigenous-generated alternatives (e.g., night patrols). This dual strategy considers the importance of both community-informed and evidence-based practices in policing to reduce harm while striving, ultimately, for as little (state) policing as possible. Here, I argue for epistemological consilience: the integration of Indigenous and Western knowledge systems. </jats:p>
dc.language	en
dc.publisher	Queensland University of Technology
dc.relation.ispartof	International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.5204/ijcjsd.4219
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.subject	1602 Criminology, 1608 Sociology, 1801 Law
dc.subject.classification	4402 Criminology
dc.subject.classification	4410 Sociology
dc.subject.classification	4804 Law in context
dc.title	Police Legitimacy and Indigenous Self-Determination: Towards a Decolonised Dialogue
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.for	1602 Criminology
utslib.for	1608 Sociology
utslib.for	1801 Law
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney/DVC (Education and Students)
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney/DVC (Education and Students)/Jumbunna
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney/UTS Groups
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney/UTS Groups/Jumbunna Research Centre
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney/UTS Groups/Chancellor's Research Fellows
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney/DVC (Education and Students)/Jumbunna Research
utslib.copyright.status	open_access	*
dc.rights.license	This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.date.updated	2026-06-30T22:05:58Z
pubs.publication-status	Published online

Abstract:

In settler states, police are used to establish and maintain colonial order, suppress Indigenous resistance, and secure state authority. Today, Indigenous people experience disproportionate rates of police contact that emerged during colonisation. Yet, mainstream scholarship on legitimacy has largely ignored Indigenous perspectives on policing, the wider context of settler colonialism, and questions of self-determination. This article focuses on police legitimacy and Indigenous self-determination in Australia, with implications for other settler states. I argue that Indigenous self-determination cannot be achieved without legitimate forms of social control. Building on the theorising of Beetham (1991) and Bottoms and Tankebe (2012), this article suggests that decolonised legitimacy dialogues are necessary to understand how Indigenous peoples conceptualise legitimate policing. A decolonised dialogue acknowledges policing’s colonial origins and its ongoing role in settler societies, the Western philosophies underlying legitimacy theory, and the need to centre Indigenous self-determination. I propose that “police” legitimacy can be enhanced via two pathways: (1) through reforms within state structures and/or (2) through Indigenous-generated alternatives (e.g., night patrols). This dual strategy considers the importance of both community-informed and evidence-based practices in policing to reduce harm while striving, ultimately, for as little (state) policing as possible. Here, I argue for epistemological consilience: the integration of Indigenous and Western knowledge systems.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/195489