Boston's Acting Mayor Kim Janey said Thursday she was considering a vaccine mandate for the city's 18,000-person workforce.
Janey also released a trio of recommendations from the new Office of Police Accountability and Transparency (OPAT), based on its review of the police department's handling of the case of Patrick Rose, Sr., the former officer and union president who remained on the force for decades despite a substantiated child abuse complaint brought against him years earlier.
The recommendations — that the Boston police commissioner draft a set of clear and predictable discipline policies, that the police department's internal investigations begin within 48 hours of receiving a credible complaint and that the mayor revise the OPAT ordinance to ensure the office is notified when an officer is charged with a crime — follow a GBH News report that the deadline for the OPAT review results had come and gone.
The review, conducted by OPAT director Stephanie Everrett, involved conversations with the Boston Police Department, an examination of existing policies, and a re-evaluation of the January 1992 St. Clair report commissioned under then-mayor Raymond Flynn. The St. Clair report has long been held up as an example of how policy recommendations to the Boston Police Department tend to stall after they're issued — often cited, but rarely followed.
The St. Clair report recommended that the BPD's internal affairs department reverse its practice of not conducting its own investigations while criminal charges were pending in court. The delay prevented BPD's investigators from interviewing witnesses in a timely manner, losing a window for people to recall events in greater detail and inspiring a loss of trust from people who felt their complaints were not taken seriously.
Everrett noted that there have since been changes to the practice of delaying internal investigations, but her report said, in Rose's case, it's unclear whether the St. Clair guidance was implemented.
Boston Police were notified about a restraining order issued against Rose in November of 1995, but he was not ordered to report to the internal affairs division until five months later. He was first interviewed for that investigation in June of 1996, more than six months after the department received its notification.
While Thursday's review revealed little in the way of new findings in the case, the recommendations, Janey said, will serve to ensure officers who are credibly accused of serious crimes, do not remain on the force.
"In this case, the failure to fully implement the reforms recommended in 1992 was a missed opportunity with very tragic results, and in 2021, we have an obligation to ensure this never happens again," Janey said, referencing the St. Clair report.
Responding to a reporter question about who else might be culpable in the Rose case, Janey said, "What is clear is that this charge was sustained by [the Internal Affairs Department] and that this officer remained on the force for 20 full years. That responsibility is clear where that lies in terms of who gets to make choices of who is terminated."
Janey stopped short of faulting then-Commissioner Paul F. Evans, who, as commissioner, had the authority to terminate officers.
City Councilor and mayoral candidate Andrea Campbell convened a press conference immediately following Janey's, saying the report from Everrett was not enough.
"Where is the investigation into the Rose case? Where is the thorough investigation, more facts, on who knew what, when, and how does this happen?" Campbell said outside City Hall.
"There really needs to be, of course, policy changes so that this doesn't happen," she said, noting that the commissioner discipline policy recommendation mirrors a provision she placed in the original OPAT ordinance, but was removed. "On this specific case, we don't know anything, and that's troubling when you think about how we're months from learning about these allegations in the first place."
Janey's office pointed to the ongoing criminal case against Rose, who is now facing nearly three dozen charges stemming from abuse allegations from six people.
Regarding the city's potential employee vaccination mandate, Janey said it's partially inspired by a "marked increase" in COVID-19 activity in the last few weeks.
Right now the city's positivity rate, she said, is at 2.7% — around where it was when Janey announced the city would re-open in the spring. The rate is below the 5% "threshold of concern," instituted at the height of the pandemic last year, but is climbing.
"With cases on the rise and the Delta variant now the dominant strain in Boston, I believe this is the best path forward to get every employee vaccinated. If it takes a mandate to keep the city of Boston employees safe, that is what we'll do with very thoughtful worker-centered approaches," she said.
The announcement comes just days after Janey, who is campaigning for a full term as mayor, secured the endorsement of SEIU Local 888, which represents about 2,000 Boston workers and residents and was on the verge of pursuing a legal complaint against the city last month over return to work plans.
Janey also pleaded for unvaccinated Boston residents to take their shots.
"Please do not wait for the Delta variant to catch up with you. Now is your time to get vaccinated."
