 Thanks very much for coming, ladies and gentlemen. As Tim said, Gary Watts is my name, GA-R-R-Y-W-A-T-F-S, Acting Detection 2 Compendence in charge of the organized crime group, State Crime Operations Command. As I said, thanks very much for coming along. Just to let you know that Task Force Resolve, consisting of 18 investigators from the south-eastern region and State Crime Operations Command, was formed at the direction of the commissioner and commenced duties on the Gold Coast on Monday. I'll leave you with a list of the armour of Richard. The Task Force will be focusing, initially focusing their investigations on. The investigators are committed and talented. The group of investigators will be working hard with the Gold Coast detectives and detectives from the south-eastern region and combating serious and organized crime and serious and violent crime committed within the south-eastern region. From my perspective, we're very grateful for the commitment of the extra resources. The Gold Coast District and the south-eastern region as a whole is a particularly busy area. We have a lot of crime. We have a lot of serious crime. So this is a great investment in relation to law enforcement in the south-eastern region. I speak today on behalf of the Assistant Commissioner, Paul Wilson, the man who's in charge of the south-eastern police region. The south-eastern police region includes the Logan District, the Coomber District and the Gold Coast District. So this Task Force was based on the Gold Coast. It's actually focused on the whole region. So it's armed robberies that have occurred in the Logan and Coomber District as well as the Gold Coast. In fact, a number of these serious armed robberies that the Task Force is going to look at actually occurred in the Logan and Coomber Police District and not the Gold Coast. But I'll say again, they've been based in this building. They're going to work hand-in-hand with the local detectives and we're very appreciative of them being there. And a number of my staff have been seconded into the Task Force to work with the State Crime Operations members and I'm looking forward to the Task Force being very successful. Is there any resentment amongst the established officers that this new Task Force is coming in and effectively taking over that? No, not at all. It's quite the opposite because the situation for detectives on the Gold Coast is you never get the situation where you haven't got anything to do. There's always too much to do. There's always another job, another crime. So for us to get an extra Task Force down here to assist us with these unsolved crimes is just fantastic. Why these eight armed robberies? Why are they being unparalleled? The eight armed robberies for the seven armed robberies plus the two of four armed robberies the seven armed robberies that have been nominated have been committed on hard targets, what we call hard targets which are your financial institutions, your taverns and the like as distinct from your 24 hour convenience stores which certainly in the examination of what we've done is they seem to be more spontaneous offenses. So we've had a look at the seven armed robberies. We have been able to establish links in relation to some of the armed robberies and on that basis the overall picture will be that we'll be looking at those armed robberies but also be looking at serious and violent crime committed within the south-eastern region and working in conjunction with the south-eastern region investigators to solve those crimes as well. So with those eight that seven or eight? There is eight. There are. And does that include the one down at Cura on Monday morning? That's correct, yes. Okay, and with those eight are you looking at a specific group of people? Are you targeting a group that's committed these crimes? In our investigations in relation to those crimes and those crimes are ongoing. We believe we've been able to identify at least several groups who may be responsible for the admission of those armed robberies. There was a report earlier in the week that actually faced out of Brisbane. Is that not the case? They're definitely based on the Gold Coast. They're definitely based on the Gold Coast. They're working out of, police headquarters here at Service Paradise. Will they be moved down here? Or are they moving? Are they moving to you? Or are they going to be going down? It's a variety of votes but the officers will be working out of the police station here at Service Paradise and accommodation arrangements have been made in relation to those officers. And at the moment though, detectives have been pulled from all over the place. When will the transition to the new positions be? When's that happening? What's the time frame? It's probably going to be in the new financial year. Obviously it's budgetary considerations and violations of that. You can't just create decisions. So we're fortunately coming to the end of the financial year so it'll be a matter for the commissioner but sometime hopefully in the next financial year we might see that transition. Is this a permanent thing? Is this going to be ongoing? Or are you going to wrap up after, you know, six months or months? What's the story there? The initial establishment of Task Force Resolve is a contingent, a word of transition period to the establishment of a serious and violent beginning with on the Gold Coast. How much pressure Gary is task force unknown given the community rage at the moment of what's going on? We certainly appreciate the community support in relation to recent events and the tragic loss of Damien Leading. The investigators are a committed group of investigators. I believe you said they were drawn from all over. They were drawn from state crime operations command. That's our response. That's our job is to provide a statewide specialist response. We're down here on the Gold Coast. They're experienced investigators that are committed and they'll go out and do their investigations and we'll get the results. So the eight robberies that have been listed they better focus on the rest than on more than eight on the Gold Coast this year. The eight are the initial focus of the task force will certainly work with the region looking at whatever other offenses that fit our bill of serious and violent crime on the Gold Coast and we'll be happy to work within the region to help them solve other crimes. Why is the carer one included considering it is different from the other seven? It's a sports quite bit of hard target and we have a firearm involved and that's the sort of stuff that we're looking at in relation to the arm of robbery. That's your message out there, sir. That we are down here. The task force result has been established. We're down here. We're committed. We're working with the region and we will solve the crimes. And on that note, I certainly ask members of the public that if you have any information in relation to the arm robberies please give us a response. I was called on 1800 triple three triple zero. People do know who are responsible for these offenses. Give us a call. We'll do the rest. You've got obviously getting serious about this. You've got some of the penalties for these points and you do pick them up and you're going to reflect that. That's about it. To disagree on that course. It's not a matter for me to talk to the speaker. What time frame are we looking at until that serious and violent crime unit will be set up? Tim, just a quick question. Yeah, it's set up now. Sorry, the permanent one. No, the permanent one. Look, I don't know. I don't know. Next financial year, that's a 12 month period. Commission has given an indication that that's what he'd like to transition to. So obviously from our point of view, the sooner the better. But I don't know. And would that be the same sort of situation here where you've brought officers in and working alongside Gold Coast? Or would that be, you know, detectives and police officers that are already here? Yeah, I think there'd be a whole range of logistical issues to work out. But ultimately what happens is the positions are simply advertised as vacant and then people would apply to fill them and they could come from all around the state. If it's hard to say that they're grouped here, I don't know if you'd take it, I guess, already, that they're already known to police or they're, I guess, repeat offenders? We're getting into operational issues which I'm really not going to comment on in relation to the current investigation. Is that something that's been established already this week? So there could be links or is that already known? It's something that we are ongoing looking at, you know, these, as your priorities are ongoing in relation to the offenses. For these officers there, they won't be the first responders to an incident will they? They're predominantly behind the scenes working? No, definitely not behind the scenes. They'll be working at the cold face in relation to solving the crimes and it certainly may be the case that if they're out and about and an offense of a serious and violent nature occurs, they certainly may be the first responders and they'll take appropriate action. But initially, obviously, the South Eastern Region Police, that's their core duty in relation to that. But we'll certainly be assisting if we're there. What sort of goal have you set them? Have you said we want 80% of these solved or 608 solved? No, I have set no statistics in relation to that. It's basically we're looking at the records. We'll do our best to solve them. Any confidence you can tell the length? Yeah, we are. We are. Because if you've got enough resources and you've got the time, we invariably can solve anything. So, yeah, we're quite confident. Given that there's none of public interest in this, are you hoping for very public results? If the only results come out of these investigations? Just to... Like information from them? Yeah. Look, I certainly hope so. I think the public is very, very concerned at the moment in relation to this to these type of offenses. And so if we can garner that support and turn that into conviction or turn that into arrest, we'll be going a long way to solving these crimes. The task force has had a fair bit of public evictions Monday. Have you had any kick-offs from the public yet? We've received some information in relation to that. There's been some things coming through crime stoppers already, so that's very pleasing. And what about this list? Is there a chance that more previous armed robberies or past armed robberies could be added to that list, or is this the aid profile? No, they're very, well, must say very fluid. But they're certainly fluid. If through further investigations we can link other offenses to that, including that. The 18 detectives who are effectively on loan to this region at the moment, of course, they've come from elsewhere. Is that putting Australian on resources elsewhere throughout the states at the moment? The 18 detectives who make up the task force predominantly come from state crime operations command, which we provide a statewide specialist response. That's our job. We go around to all regions across the state, provide a similar response at the moment. 18 detectives or a proportion of that 18 detectives are on the Gold Coast, which is a very recent read. It must be a relief, is it? For you to have those extra officers down here. Oh, Ashland, it's a big help. It's a big help. There's no two ways about it. We're very appreciative of having you. I've temporarily had to move them into our offices on level three of this building, and although that took a bit of working, it's very good to have them there. So, very pleasing. Not quite. And is it worth doing anything in terms of preventative measures at all, or is it mainly just working on these? They'll be mainly working on the aid and current offences if they come in, but it's certainly something if we detect there are security issues that we can assist with. There's obviously a variety of programs out there offered by the service that we will engage and assist with. Okay. Thank you.