Even in Australia, Porepunkah is a town few would have heard of before this week. Fewer still could pronounce it. Nestled at the base of densely wooded mountains in the Australian Alps, it is home to about 1,000 people and beloved for its wineries, bushwalking and peaceful atmosphere – something which has now been shattered.
Choppers whir overhead. Kevlar-clad officers methodically patrol the town. Armoured vehicles roll down its streets. Porepunkah is now the centre of a massive manhunt for a heavily-armed man that police allege murdered two of their own in cold blood.
Officers went to Dezi Freeman's property on the outskirts of the rural Victorian town on Tuesday, with a warrant to search it. They were met with gunfire, before their alleged attacker – a sovereign citizen with a well-documented hatred of authority – vanished into nearby bushland.
The shooting – which appears hauntingly similar to an ambush of police in Queensland three years ago – has shocked the town and revived questions over how the country deals with growing sects of anti-government conspiracy theorists.
Police were clearly expecting that this wasn't going to be a straightforward interaction. A detailed risk assessment had been conducted and 10 officers – a show of force – were tasked with executing the search warrant, reportedly relating to a sex crimes investigation. Among them was a local detective from a nearby town who was on the brink of retirement. Neal Thompson was selected for the job because he'd had previous dealings with the target and was thought to have built rapport with him.
Within minutes of arriving at the property, he was shot dead, alongside Senior Constable Vadim De Waart. Another unnamed officer was gravely injured and is recovering in hospital. Mr. Freeman escaped into thick tree cover on his property with several firearms, including, according to local media, an illegal homemade gun and at least one weapon stolen from the slain officers.
Horror quickly echoed around the valley. Residents say it's the kind of town where everyone knows everyone. So it didn't take long for Mr. Freeman – legally known as Desmond Filby – to be fingered as the alleged culprit.
Sovereign citizens are a type of anti-authoritarian conspiracists loosely dubbed pseudo-law believers: people who reject established government and law as illegitimate, justified by legal-sounding arguments that have no actual basis. Though Mr. Freeman and his family seemed to be well integrated in the community, Misty-Rose describes them as subjects of town whispers.
Dr. McIntyre, an associate professor of law, says their belief system has a 'dangerous underpinning'. Once you start chopping and choosing which laws you're going to obey… you're starting to really abandon those core ideas that a democracy is built on. Without addressing these root causes, it's difficult to mitigate the growing influence of such conspiracy ideologies.
