There is very little known about the circumstances of a young Warlpiri man’s death in custody.

What we do know is that at around 1pm on May 27, security approached the 24-year-old with disabilities in Coles, in Mparntwe/Alice Springs, over potential shoplifting, after which two plainclothes police officers took over and killed Kumanjayi White.

The Northern Territory criminal justice system has followed the same script from other circumstances where a police officer or a prison guard kills a First Nations person, going into a type of lockdown. That involves disappearing all related evidence, including CCTV footage, from public sight, while local law enforcement guards its right to be the sole investigator.

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When calls for independent inquiries are made, such as is happening now, local law enforcement goes into overdrive to protect its right to investigate its own. Government ministers of the relevant state or territory then support local police in keeping everything under wraps until it’s ready to provide its version of events.

The killing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people by police and corrections officers is not uncommon. While the charging of officers involved is rare, a conviction in relation to an Aboriginal custody death is........

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