00:00Victoria Police have announced that they are putting together a group called Task Force
00:09Summit.
00:10That will be the group that continues the search for Desi Freeman, which they have said
00:16will continue until he has been found.
00:21Now that task force will be based near the area of Paupunker, where Desi Freeman was
00:28last seen, and he was last seen at a property in Paupunker after a group of ten police officers
00:36attempted to serve a warrant for historical alleged sex abuses.
00:42Two of those officers, as we know, were fatally shot and another one was seriously wounded.
00:48There has been no confirmed sightings of Desi Freeman since he fled into the bush on August
00:5426, and that search has now been going for more than eight weeks.
00:58At its height there were around 500 officers in the area.
01:02That's been scaled back to around 200 officers.
01:06This news task force will be led by a detective inspector from Victoria Police Command, will
01:11be based in the Great Alpine region.
01:14It will include specialist resources from the Fugitive Squad, Armed Crime Squad, Viper Task
01:19Force, Special Operations Group, Search and Rescue Squad and drones and others.
01:26Also there will be public order response team members continue to be based at Myrtleford and
01:32Bright Police Stations, which are in the area near Paupunker.
01:36They will continue to conduct patrols and be a presence and will be able to take information
01:43from any members of the public.
01:45And the Homicide Squad of course will continue to lead the investigation into the murders of
01:51the two police officers.
01:52And what do we know about that investigation so far, Sasha?
01:56Well police say they have received around 1,700 pieces of information in relation to that
02:03search.
02:04Many of those obviously tip-offs from the public.
02:06They are still calling for anyone who has any information including suspicious activity
02:12on their property or anything that they might think might be relevant to the search.
02:16No matter how small that they report that to police.
02:19They have offered a $1 million reward for any information leading to the arrest of Desi
02:25Freeman.
02:26They say the search does continue to be their highest priority and they are open to three
02:31key possibilities which are that he has perished, that he has left the area or he has been assisted
02:38by others.
02:39So that search continues, Ros, and they are still calling for any information that might be helpful
02:44to that.
02:45Thanks Sasha.
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