POREPUNKAH TRAGEDY A COMMUNITY UNITED

ONE MONTH ON, LOCALS ARE HOPEFUL FOR CHANGE

- Maisy Rae

Despite the heavy police presence around the small town of Porepunkah in Victoria's northeast, locals have tried to adopt a 'business as usual' mentality as the search for alleged cop killer, Dezi Freeman, enters its fourth week.

The town, which has a population of just over 1000 people, was thrust into the spotlight after two police officers were killed during a routine search warrant on August 26.

The search for Freeman, who is also known as Desmond Filby, began almost immediately as he fled into the Mount Buffalo National Park after allegedly fatally shooting Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson, 59, and Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart, 34, at his property. Neal was days away from his retirement.

Despite 125 specialist police officers being deployed in what has become Australia's largest manhunt, Freeman has not been seen since. At the time of going to press, he had not been found.