KEY POINTS:
Police negotiators spent six hours persuading a young man armed with flare guns to hand himself in during a dramatic stand-off in central Dunedin yesterday.
The 19-year-old held his vigil from the top storey of the former Chief Post Office building in Princes St, armed with the guns
and speaking to police via a cellphone.
Three main streets were cordoned off and people in surrounding buildings were warned not to go near windows exposed to the at-times-hysterical man.
He was finally arrested about 2pm, and was last night undergoing psychological assessment at Dunedin Central police station.
Inspector Alastair Dickie said police received a call at 8am from the youth, who said he was on the top floor of the old post office building.
He said he was holding a flare gun under his chin and would do himself harm if police did not address a "few issues", Mr Dickie said.
He wanted to speak to the media.
The building is currently being renovated and is unoccupied.
Police cordoned off three city blocks between Rattray and Jetty Sts.
"We knew a flare gun could cause some damage and injury, so we had cause for concern there," Mr Dickie said.
The Fire Service and ambulance were called to the scene, and a team of four trained negotiators began the long process of reasoning with the young man. A lead negotiator stayed on the phone in an effort to build up a rapport with him.
Mr Dickie said the youth appeared unstable - laughing and joking one moment, crying the next.
He was known to police, and to mental health services in the city, and had "had issues" before, Mr Dickie said.
"He was talking about different issues, relating to his family and other issues including drugs.
"He wanted his family moved from one address to another, and so we did that fairly early on."
The negotiation team established he had a hammer and knife with him and were able to talk him into exchanging the weapons for some cigarettes.
But he would not give up the flare guns, the existence of which was confirmed by spotters from nearby buildings.
Mr Dickie said the decision was made to wait the situation out, and not send police officers in to arrest the teen, as the presence of the flare guns put their safety at risk.
"Had we tried to storm the place, the outcome could have been very different."
The stand-off finally eased about 2pm, when the teen stepped out to a balcony, leaving the flare guns behind.
Members of the armed offenders squad, who had been on standby on the floor below, managed to secure the weapons and talk him into giving himself up.
Mr Dickie praised the work of his negotiation team, who had put in a sterling effort over the six-hour ordeal.
"We were prepared to go for the long haul. We didn't want to rush in, and we were prepared for it to go through until tomorrow."
Central Dunedin had experienced a fair amount of disruption, although traffic had flowed freely around the cordons.
However, businesses in the affected streets could have suffered, Mr Dickie acknowledged.
About 50 emergency personnel, including police, firefighters and ambulance staff, had been involved.
Mr Dickie said police were considering what charges the young man would face.
These could potentially include being unlawfully in a building, wasting police time, and breach of bail conditions.
- NZPA
