A former police hostage negotiator says this morning’s stand-off that led to the death of Dezi Freeman “was always going to end up ugly”.
Dr Vincent Hurley, now a criminologist a Macquarie University, said that while the aim of police would have been to take Freeman alive and bring him before a court, Freeman’s ideology as a sovereign citizen made this outcome nearly impossible.
“He would have seen [being arrested] as a cowardly act,” Hurley said.
“He would have wanted to either shoot his way out or hold out as long as possible. Police would have told him he was surrounded and that he had no way of escape, and that they were not going to come in and harm him – that is standard practice. They would have reinforced the point numerous times that they were trying to get him to give himself up freely.”
Hurley said stand-offs like the one in Thologolong this morning were incredibly rare, and each time there was one – such as when Malcolm Naden was arrested in March 2012 after seven years on the run – police learnt from it.
Hurley also said Freeman was now probably a martyr for the cause of sovereign citizens, and the damage may have been done by how much attention his time on the run received in the media.
“The icing on the cake is that he has outlasted police, and the government, and given them the middle finger for seven months,” Hurley said. “Sovereign citizens and extremists will use him as a yardstick.”
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