Internal investigators for the Boston Police Department say that there was sufficient evidence from back in the mid-’90s that backs up allegations that an officer, Patrick Rose, sexually assaulted a minor. Despite that, he stayed on the force and ultimately returned to duty. Documents related to the case were released by the city on Tuesday, as it was announced they would be last week.
The now-66-year-old Rose is currently facing 33 charges stemming from allegations made by six victims. His lawyer maintains his innocence. He’s pleaded not guilty.
NBC Boston reports that the records were ordered to be released by acting Mayor Kim Janey following a report on Rose, released earlier this month, from The Boston Globe. That story said that Rose, a former president of the Boston Patrolmen’s Association who is now retired, was able to stay employed although a criminal complaint was made against him in 1995 for the sexual assault of a 12-year-old.
The criminal complaint ended up being dropped, though the documents say the Internal Affairs Division thought there was enough evidence to back the allegations. The city’s Police Commissioner was given a memo in the summer of 1996 showing the results of that inquiry.
At the time Rose had his weapon taken from him and was given administrative duties. After a legal threat from an attorney for the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association in October 1997 he was placed back onto full duty.
Janey categorized Rose’s two additional decades on the force (after the accusation) and his rise to heading up the police union as “deeply unsettling and entirely unacceptable.”
You can read the full document at NBC Boston.
