Road rage outside prestigious school snares top cop in corruption probe

Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Neil Paterson is being investigated by the state’s anti-corruption commission following a road rage incident during school pick-up at a prestigious Melbourne school.

The Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) received a referral from Victoria Police after a formal complaint by Haileybury college about the conduct of Paterson during the July 24 episode, which was witnessed by parents, teachers and students outside the school’s city campus.

Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Neil Paterson.Credit: AAP

IBAC is investigating whether the deputy commissioner misused his position and authority during a verbal altercation and subsequent correspondence with a school parent. The parent was charged and fined for failing to obey a traffic direction. The parent alleges that Paterson, who was out of uniform and driving an unmarked car, was threatening and intimidating.

Paterson staunchly defended his conduct, telling The Age it was the parent who was agitated and that he acted professionally throughout.

“At no time was my behaviour intimidatory to the driver, and I note that I was dealing with an erratic and aggressive driver who refused to follow a lawful direction,” Paterson said. “I have absolutely not sought to apologise as I have acted professionally through this incident.”

The incident began at about 3.40pm in Jeffcott Street, a narrow road which runs beside the school’s CBD campus, opposite Melbourne’s Flagstaff Gardens. Paterson does not have children at the school, but became stuck in a queue of cars waiting to access the school’s underground pick-up and drop-off area.

The school is only 250 metres from the Victoria Police Centre, where Paterson serves as second-in-command to Chief Commissioner Shane Patton.

Apparently frustrated at being stuck in traffic, Paterson got out of his car and approached one of the drivers blocking the street, a father waiting to pick up his primary school-aged daughter, to demand he clear the road.

Haileybury’s Melbourne campus during pick-up time on Thursday.Credit: Simon Schluter

The parent claims Paterson did not present any identification but declared he was a police deputy commissioner, demanded to see his licence and threatened to arrest him unless he moved his car out of the way.

Paterson says he introduced himself as a police officer, eventually produced his identification to the driver, and that he issued multiple, lawful directions to the parent to drive on and unblock the road.

“Traffic had banked up and a number of cars had sounded their horns,” Paterson said. “I approached the driver and asked him if he could drive on as he had been blocking traffic for in excess of five minutes. The male driver became agitated and aggressive and refused to remove his vehicle.

“I then returned to my police vehicle, obtained my police identification as I was in plain clothes, produced my police identification to the driver and again directed him to drive on in order to allow traffic to flow.”

When the parent refused, Paterson followed him into an underground Wilson car park used by the school for student drop-offs and pick-ups. Teachers on duty inside the car park witnessed a further altercation and, unaware of Paterson’s identity, felt compelled to intervene.

The episode was witnessed by a nanny and junior school parents waiting to pick up their children.

Following the incident, Paterson issued him with an infringement notice for failing to obey a traffic direction from a police officer and attached a letter to the infringement notice warning that if the parent did not agree to plead guilty, he would be charged with further offences.

Haileybury principal Derek Scott outside the city campus.Credit: Arsineh Houspian

Paterson explained his approach, saying he would have provided a similar warning to the parent verbally, but it was not possible on the day due to the parent’s behaviour. “It was provided in the letter in order to be fully transparent,” he said.

The Age put a series of questions to Victoria Police about the altercation and whether the personal letter Paterson attached to the infringement notice could be considered an abuse of process.

In response, Victoria Police issued a brief statement.

“Victoria Police can confirm it received a complaint regarding this interaction,” a spokesperson said. “As per the Independent Broad-Based Anti-Corruption Act 2011, Victoria has referred the matter to IBAC.”

IBAC is Victoria’s peak anti-corruption agency responsible for exposing public sector corruption and police misconduct. Victoria Police is required by law to refer complaints against officers with the rank of assistant commissioner and above to IBAC.

IBAC can decline to investigate a complaint it considers trivial, vexatious or not credible.

This episode is not the first time that Paterson’s temperament has come under public scrutiny.

In 2022, Paterson apologised to a Red Cross blood worker after he upbraided her over her organisation’s discriminatory donor policies against sexually active gay men.

Paterson provided evidence to the Royal Commission into the Management of Police Informants in 2019.

The worker had approached Paterson while he was at a cafe inside police headquarters, to solicit a donation. Paterson’s response reportedly left her “deeply upset”.

Paterson has served with Victoria Police for 36 years including stints as Acting Chief Commissioner and chief of staff to former chief commissioner Graham Ashton.

He is currently deputy commissioner of regional operations, which covers policing across all metropolitan and regional divisions. Until July last year, he had responsibility for Professional Standards Command, the section of the force that handles complaints against police.

Paterson is also a qualified lawyer who in 2019 provided evidence to the royal commission established to examine the Lawyer X scandal.

Haileybury principal Derek Scott confirmed he was aware of the IBAC probe but declined to discuss what happened outside the school.

“Haileybury understands that Victoria Police have referred this matter to IBAC,” Scott said. “We trust the integrity and rigour of that process and therefore it would be inappropriate for us to comment further at this time.

“Haileybury stresses that the safety and security of our students, staff and families within our school community is of paramount importance.”

Haileybury, a high-performing academic school with nearly 5000 students across four campuses, established its city school in a disused King Street office building in 2016. Jeffcott Street, a two-lane road that runs between Spencer and King streets, is a notorious traffic hazard during school drop-off and pick-up times.

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