WA Police have not implemented two key Corruption and Crime Commission recommendations about interacting with Aboriginal people stemming from the Gene Gibson wrongful conviction case.
The cognitively impaired man from the remote desert community of Kiwirrkurra, who speaks little English, was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years' jail for fatally striking Josh Warneke from behind as he walked home from a night out in Broome in 2010.
A series of flawed police interviews conducted more than two years later were deemed inadmissible, forcing prosecutors to drop a murder charge and accept Mr Gibson's guilty plea to manslaughter.
The CCC reviewed police actions in the case and in 2015 handed down seven recommendations, including improvements to interviewing practices.
Mr Gibson then appealed his conviction, successfully arguing he suffered a miscarriage of justice because he did not have the cognitive ability or language skills to understand what was happening during the legal process.
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He walked free last year after serving almost five years behind bars and police are still searching for Mr Warneke's killer.
On Wednesday, the CCC released a report concluding police had implemented five of the recommendations, but two about dealing with and understanding Aboriginal language and culture have not been addressed.
Specifically, the CCC has suggested police carefully caution someone about their right to silence when English is not their first language.
Police are considering adopting the Northern Territory model whereby the caution is recorded in a variety of Aboriginal languages and the correct version is played before an interview.
But little progress has been made with this proposal and the CCC says it may not be effective.
Police also plan to develop a tool to help identify the vulnerabilities of an interviewee, which the CCC says is promising, but it still has concerns about how officers will ensure a caution has been comprehended.
The CCC also said police deployed to remote areas only got basic cultural awareness training, and advised the force to find out if the lack of knowledge was widespread.
If so, training should be ongoing and refresher courses should be offered, the CCC said.
Police say they are not convinced there's a systemic problem, but are taking steps to improve training.
The CCC says more still needs to be done.
