More than a month after acting Mayor Kim Janey’s deadline for a review into Boston Police’s handling of Patrick M. Rose Sr. — a former officer and one-time head of the patrolman's union accused of sexually abusing children during his tenure on the force — no formal report has been issued.
While the city said that the report is complete, weeks have passed since Janey’s deadline for Office of Police Accountability and Transparency, or OPAT, director Stephanie Everett to deliver the plan. It has yet to be made public.
Everett started May 3, and was given 45 days to complete the review. Janey’s office told GBH News that while Everett’s first major assignment has been completed, it will not be released to the public yet, but instead will be presented to the OPAT Commission, which has yet to be fully staffed.
“Director Everett has drafted proposed procedures that will be presented to the OPAT commission for discussion and at a public hearing for comment, as required by law,” Janey’s chief of communications Stephanie Garrett-Stearns told GBH News in a statement.
The Office of Police Accountability and Transparency was formed during former mayor Marty Walsh’s tenure, amid calls for racial justice and police reform in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. The Rose case has amplified the urgency of that work, after a Boston Globe investigation revealed that he remained on the force for years after being credibly accused of sexually abusing a child.
Rose now faces multiple charges of child sexual assault. He has pled not guilty.
On April 20, Janey released some internal affairs documents relating to Rose. The limited release of documents raised more questions about Boston Police’s handling of Rose and prompted a chorus of calls for Janey to release the full internal affairs file in his case. BPD’s internal affairs processes have become a top issue in the mayoral campaign, for which Janey is seeking election to a full term.
Janey has previously defended not releasing the full internal affairs file for Rose, and said the city was withholding it to protect victim identities.
Timeline of the OPAT review
On April 26, Janey announced the review of the department’s handling of Rose, to be completed by Everett within the framework of the newly-formed Office of Police Accountability and Transparency.
But OPAT — comprised of a commission with subpoena power to investigate officer misconduct, a civilian review board and an internal affairs oversight panel — remains largely unstaffed.
The Boston City Council approved $1.3 million for the office on June 30, when it passed the city’s budget for the year.
Everett’s job as director of the office also puts her on the OPAT Commission, alongside the chairs of the Civilian Review Board and the Internal Affairs Oversight Panel. While the Internal Affairs Oversight Panel conducted its first meeting on June 9, the Civilian Review Board’s nine members and its chair have yet to be named.
An emailed request for comment to Everett was responded by Garrett-Stearns with the above statement.
According to the ordinance creating the OPAT, three members of the review board will be appointed by the mayor at the council’s recommendation, and the remainder from a pool of applicants recommended by community partners.
Janey’s office said she will be making chair appointments from the full slate of candidates provided by the city council and the community. According to her office, requests for nominations were sent to the council in May.
When pressed about the public release of the review, Garrett-Stearns said Janey “is eager to receive input from the community and the Council to fully implement the OPAT Commission and move forward with her requested review of the Rose case.”
Janey’s office said they expect the nine members of the Civilian Review Board to be seated by August.
Boston mayoral candidates respond
Mayoral candidate and city councilor Andrea Campbell told GBH News that Janey’s explanation for not releasing the review immediately is “absurd.”
“There’s no reason whatsoever that that report cannot be released,” said Campbell, who also heads the public safety committee on the council.
Campbell has called for the U.S. Attorney’s office to investigate the police department’s handling of Patrick Rose, rather than the newly formed Office of Police Accountability and Transparency.
“I don’t know why they kept pushing for OPAT [to do the investigation] when OPAT doesn’t fully exist,” she said. “I could see months ago that this office — and I knew because I drafted the legislation — wasn’t going to be prepared and adequately staffed.”
Mayoral candidate and councilor Annissa Essaibi George also criticized Janey’s handling of the review.
“Just as we do for our police department and any other city agency serving our residents, we expect that same level of cooperation, accountability and transparency from the administration to both meet the deadlines they’ve put in place and keep the public informed,” Essaibi George said in a statement.
Councilor and mayoral candidate Michelle Wu said in a statement that city leaders need to “do better than make promises for press announcements and fail to follow through,” adding that delivering reform requires “bold vision backed up by effective leadership across our agencies.”
The other candidate for mayor, former Boston economic development director John Barros, did not respond to emailed request for comment..
