Police Union Leader Patrick Rose Pleads Guilty To Child Rape After 27 Years

The city of Boston, which has faced a lawsuit and criticism for withholding documents about a prominent former police officer convicted of raping children, released hundreds of additional pages about its investigation on Thursday.

But Mayor Michelle Wu said none of the documents explain why the Boston Police Department kept Patrick Rose on for more than two decades after he was first credibly accused of sexually assaulting a child. Rose later rose to become head of one of the key police unions in the city.

The new documents released Thursday included portions of a heavily redacted 98-page investigative file into Rose, who was charged with sexually abusing a child in 1995.

The criminal charges were dropped after the victim recanted,  but an internal investigation found Rose likely sexually assaulted the child. Wu says those were grounds to fire Rose. But she said the investigative file did not explain why Rose wasn't fired or disciplined.

"To the best of our knowledge, no such city documentation exists," she told the council.

Rose went on to lead the city's largest police union, the Boston Police Patrolmen's Union. He retired in 2018.

"Some of the questions that drive the push for fuller transparency in this particularly horrific situation are not fully answered," Wu told reporters Thursday. "Namely, who might have been involved or took specific action to reinstate Patrick Rose in full to his job as a police officer."

Rose pleaded guilty in April to 21 counts of child rape and sexual assault for abusing six children over a 27-year period. A judge sentenced him to at least 10 years in prison followed by 10 years probation.

The city previously found the police department should have done more to protect the public after initial claims were made against Rose in 1995.