 Okay, good morning. My name is Gary Watts, a WA double TS acting detective superintendent, organized crime group, state crime operations command. I have a prepared release which I will speak to you first initially, and then I am open for questions after that. Thanks for coming today. We appreciate the high level of media interest in this arrest, but I am sure you understand the matter is currently before the courts and I will be somewhat limited in what I can release this morning. Last night police from Task Force Resolve removed a priority suspect from the streets. The person of interest was part of an operation being conducted by Task Force Resolve detectives. Police attempted to speak to him and Main Street at Willingabba in relation to an armed robbery. At this point police had drawn their service firearms. The offender was armed and was classified as a serious high-risk offender. The man resisted arrest and fled the scene in a stolen four-wheel drive that contained a woman and a child. Police pursued the offender where he's alleged to have struck a number of vehicles including police vehicles and member of the public public's vehicles, which resulted in the end of the pursuit on the corner of St Paul's Terrace in Kennegar Street, Fortitude Valley. No one was injured as a result of the pursuit. The man was held in custody overnight where he was charged with serious criminal offences, which he should have and will appear in court today. Any pursuit is subject to an overview by the ethical standards command. In this situation the police officers determined that the serious matter under investigation was included in a category four pursuit by the police service. The police officers took that into consideration and continued with the pursuit, which as I've said resulted in the arrest of a high-risk offender. The officers are dear to the guidelines as outlined in the police service policy. They assess the risk of the dangerous armed offender and the conditions. I can't go into details of the particular incidents the 23-year-old has been charged with. Those details will be available in court today. This arrest is significant. It's a significant achievement for the newly formed task force resolve. We promise that we would dent serious and violent crimes on the Gold Coast and not ten days into the task force we have achieved that. We've taken a serious armed and dangerous offender off the streets and we'll continue to locate and prosecute people responsible for those crimes. Thank you. That's correct. Look the time of the pursuit was on the mind of the officers engaged in the pursuit. Can I just say at the asset there are some speeds being mentioned by sections of the media that are not true without going into details. I can assure you that the speeds did not reach some of those speeds as indicated, but those situations and the timing of the pursuit were taken into consideration by the officers involved. They made that determination, took into account the policy that the service has in relation to pursuits and continued with the pursuit. Not at this stage, that matter is still under investigation. They're in the media. I have seen that speed and look I can assure you that speeds of that level were not attained during the pursuit. I believe four police vehicles have been damaged and a number of members of the public's vehicles have been damaged as well. Obviously we are talking about a high risk offender here and as I said the officers had their service firearms drawn. A service firearm was discharged during the course of this arrest. However I cannot go into details of that. However I can say that the matter is under investigation by the ethical standards command or overview by the ethical standards command. Well I hope it says to them that Task Force Resolve is serious in its business. We will be looking at you and hopefully we will be getting you and prosecuting you. There are other matters under investigation at the moment. We're working with South East and Region Detectives and Metropolitan North Region Detectives. That's an operational question and I won't be going too much into specifics of that. The initial indications are that this is not a gang-related crime. Task Force Resolve is concentrating on a series of seven historic arm robberies. Also the Acura Sports Club arm robbery which occurred earlier last week and also the arm robbery that the subject of the press conference here today. We will be looking at that as I said at the outset in relation to a task force resolve. We'll be looking at any links we can form between the historic arm robberies under investigation. We believe we have formed some links but that is a matter of the under investigation by the task force. I'm not saying that in relation to organized arm robberies. I don't think I've said anything in relation to organized arm robberies. We'll be looking at arm robberies that have been committed on the Gold Coast. Serious and violent crime that occurs on the Gold Coast as part of our duties as Task Force Resolve. I don't believe so, no. No one was injured as a result of the pursuit. The pursuit lasted some 13 minutes as my understanding and was just over approximately five kilometers. I would suggest so, yes. We're still conducting inquiries in relation to any involvement the female person may have had in relation to matters under investigation. No. I am not aware of the statistics for that at the moment. I'm certainly we can probably get them and make them available but not at the moment. How many robberies are they linked with? The 23 year old male has been arrested and charged with one arm robbery at the moment and we are currently conducting further investigations in relation to other matters. We're still the matters that we are investigating are still under investigation. I have no idea. It's a matter for us. It will stand as command. Is my understanding of the driver was taken to the hospital for a short time but was then conveyed to the Brisbane watch house where he was formally charged. When did it land? No, the the male person was arrested at the at Fortitude Valley. He resisted violently and was restrained and handcuffed. It's my understanding it's both the alleged offenders and the police speeds were well under 120 as reported 120 kilometers per hour. The child was three years of age. It's his child, isn't it? I'm not going to comment on the relationship between the child and the offender. Which child were the people? I don't know a female child. What's their potential when when police drew their guns for a shootout in the city? The arrest of a high risk offender obviously has potential for injury to two persons, both police and members of the public and also the person involved. The police took a decision in relation to that and the arrest the person was subsequently arrested in Fortitude Valley after a short pursuit. A replica handgun was located on the male person when he was arrested. Those matters are still under investigation. I'll be making no comment in relation to policing on the Gold Coast other than relating to task force resolve. Task force staff well enough that you're looking to pull in more detective units? No, there are 18 investigators on the task force. It's adequately resourced and as I said before I think we've had a great achievement in the arrest of the 23-year-old person with an armed robbery as such and we will continue to make such achievements. No, the stage task force was always concentrating on armed robberies and serious violent crimes committed within the South Eastern region. South East, not just the Gold Coast No, the Gold Coast District, Cuma District and Logan District. That's pretty hard to say but I am confident that the task force will make arrests for armed robberies. I can't give you a 10 days limit but I hope to be here before 10 days. Any other questions at all? Okay, thanks very much for your time. Thank you. How do the officers feel about the arrest? They are proud of their achievement, solving the armed robbery within 10 days as I've said. However, I certainly don't want to... What's the word? Well, yeah, obviously the investigators realised that it's going to be a hard long slog to solve these crimes. We've got some good solid investigators in relation to that on the task force and they'll be working hard to achieve that aim. The commissioners made his comments in relation to the establishment of Task Force Resolve. I won't be making any comments in relation to the establishment. Oh, no, that's currently before the courts. Was he being investigated prior to June 10th last year? No. About the replica gun once or the replica rifle? A replica handgun. Wasn't it... Like, not based on the system? I haven't seen it. Sorry, I can't comment on it. Other than to say it was heavy and it was very, very real looking. So, when... No, that's correct, yes, it's a replica firearm in capable of firing. It's an operational question there. I can't probably go into that any further. Task forces are also looking into stolen firearms? Stolen firearms are part of the firearms trafficking unit within organised crime. It's part of their investigative processes that we look into. Thank you.