Former Boston police union head to be arraigned in alleged assault on child

The former head of the Boston police union is due to be arraigned on Thursday in connection with an alleged indecent attack on a child, authorities said.

Patrick Rose, former president of the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association, will be arraigned in West Roxbury District Court on “multiple” charges, including indecent assault and battery on a child under 14, authorities said.

Rose could not be reached Wednesday night for comment, and department spokesman John Boyle said only that Rose was not in Boston police custody.

Rose joined the department in 1994 and spent most of his career working in Dorchester.

He was voted union president in December 2014, replacing longtime head Thomas Nee.

He retired from the Boston Police Department in 2018.

Boston Mayor Martin Walsh said in a statement sent to the Herald Wednesday night that the allegations need to be “investigated to the fullest” by authorities.

“I am deeply disturbed by these horrific allegations,” Walsh said, “which must be investigated to the fullest extent of the law.”

In 2016, Rose backed the city’s police body-camera pilot program, but no officers stepped forward at the start of the program that has since been adopted. At the time, Rose said police killings around the country had cops hesitant.

“It may be that the problem with officers actually volunteering occurred because of timing,” Rose said at the time, according to a Herald story. “The city decided to agree to this program within a week of eight police officers being murdered in two separate cities and, meanwhile, our members were screaming for protection which was falling on deaf ears.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/31Nl3M1