Antioch Police Detective Brian Rose Honored as 2016 Community Champion

This week, the Antioch Police Department announced that Detective Brian Rose was honored  as a 2016 Community Champion by Community Violence Solutions for those “who go above and beyond the call of duty to end sexual violence in our community.”

Detective Rose was nominated by the Children’s Interview Center in Martinez, a place where where kids will allege sexual or physical abuse in a safe environment to share their story. They also interview witnesses and developmentally delayed adults.

Detective Brian Rose (center), Detective Jim Perkinson (left), Sergeant Tom Fuhrmann (lower left), and Lieutenant Tony Morefield (lower right) with Chief Allan Cantando.

“I am humbled and honored by the nomination and award, it means a lot and everyone likes to be recognized for the work they do. But the small amount of success that I have accomplished, it wasn’t done by me alone, I have a great support system behind me from the top down. From Chief Cantando, our administrators, Tony Morefield, Tom Fuhrmann, they have all provided me with the resources I need to succeed. The people at the children’s resource center are amazing.”

Rose notes these cases are very complex, difficult, intricate and personal. He says because of this, rather than an officer interview these kids, the Children’s Interview Center of Martinez does the interview because of their expertise with kids and works with officers.

“They do amazing interviews and are the foundation of the investigation and without them, a lot of these investigations would go nowhere,” says Rose. “It’s difficult in itself to get a child to disclose something so personal, but the work that they do is second to none, they are amazing. My success has to be largely to the team behind me, they make me look good.”

Detective Rose says these are some of the hardest cases he has ever worked on because he is dealing with children of sexual or physical abuse.

“You don’t want to see innocent children taken advantage of and victimized. It’s tough from that aspect but are also tough because the perpetrator in these cases are often close family friends or relatives,” says Rose.

Rose explained that we teach our children about the dangers of “stranger danger” but estimates 90% of his cases involved children who were victimized by either a family member or close family friend.

“We have to train our kids also about the freaky friendly because the people who do these kind of crimes are really good at what they do. They groom the kids, build a good rapport with the kids so it’s a lot easier for them to cross those boundaries,” explained Rose.

Rose says he is passionate about these cases.

“I feel like I am right where I am supposed to be in my career because my passion about these cases. I love these cases. I love them because they are difficult, I love the challenge, but I love them because the relationships I am able to build with these families are second to none. I make myself available to these families 24-7 for the most part,” says Rose. “Sometimes the cases don’t get filed, sometimes they don’t get prosecuted, but my goal is to do the best job I can as an investigator, but more so to link the families up with services to get restoration, wholeness, and recovery from these traumatic events.”

Another aspect to the cases are that often times it’s the kids word against an adults. He says that is where they have to get creative in an investigation to substantiate what a child is saying and that law enforcement has tools.

“It’s difficult because with more common crimes like shootings, murders or robbery, there are often times surveillance or witnesses where you can piece together information,” explained Rose. “But with these, they are private and personal matters. So it’s often done in the privacy of someone’s home and a young victim and the perpetrator. I also do not want to forget that sometimes adults are victims of these accusations as well. “

Rose explains that for the process to begin a report has to be filed and there will be a detective assigned to the case and an interview is arranged with the Children Interview Center.

“The most important thing is to raise awareness and it starts at home with the parents spending quality time with their children and getting to know them, having a good transparent rapport with the parent, explained Rose. “If children can trust their parents or someone they trust, they need someone they can tell this to because it starts with open communication.”

Rose says that CV Solutions (located on W. 10^th) has an office for people to go to and talk with them. They do not have to file a police report, but they can begin to provide resources that may help. They may encourage people to follow through with filing an investigative report, but everything is confidential.

“To raise awareness, I think it begins with us, parents, and the community  taking time to invest in children so we can have transparent relationships and open communication. We also need to bring awareness to local resources such as CVS who have a ton of information for people,” explained Rose.

Rose says that even as a police officer for 7-years, prior to becoming a detective and learning about them, many services were foreign to him.

“I was ignorant to them. It speaks to just how unknown this is. I am a cop, I have been a cop for 7-years and I didn’t know about this stuff. I didn’t know how to connect people to this stuff until I became a detective. It’s just a matter of putting information out there and making the public aware. We need to do a better job at not only educating officers, but informing the public,” says Rose. “Typically on patrol, you take a report and it’s onto the next. You are not following up with victims and are not seeing the process through. Until I was a detective, I didn’t realize the process and see it through such as working with the victims, the District Attorney and the court system.”

When asked if he is surprised by some of the cases he receives, he says he is not because we live in a flawed world and he understands that.

“People do the most heinous things. If you can imagine it, then it’s been done. Depending on who you are your imagination is going to take you so far. But someone else may have a better imagination and go much further.  There are a small group of people that are disgusting, depraved on what we would like to think, when I see the very bad cases, I am not surprised because I know mankind is capable of some really bad things. Sometimes I do take a step back and think how can someone do that to a little kid, but I understand that some people are just disgusting and depraved.”

Rose says at the end of the day, he hopes to help families be able to move forward based on the type of closure that particular family wants while understanding the incident will forever change their lives.

“Some people come forward because they want police involved and want the court system to find this person guilty. Others come forward because they do not know what to do and they want resources. Different people have different motives for coming forward,” explained Rose. “What I like to do is build relationships with families and understand what closure means to them. The one thing I do with every person and family and make sure I am thorough in how the process is going to work and make no promises in terms of whether the case is going to be filed or the person will be found guilty because I don’t have any control over that. But I do promise that I will 100% do the best job I can do and leave no stone unturned. That is the promise I can bring.”

Rose says that to allow a victim or family to begin healing that is the most important thing.

“It’s personal; it’s not something that is abstract. That is the mindset I have with every case. It’s great if we get someone found guilty and they go to prison, but at what cost if the victim is broken for their rest of their live?,” explained Rose. “At that point, I feel like my job is not done and there is more work to be done. Turning these families onto resources is a primary goal.”

About Community Violence Solutions
Founded in 1974, Community Violence Solutions, the umbrella organization for the Rape Crisis Center of Contra Costa and Marin Counties, is one of the oldest rape crisis centers in California, and one of the oldest in the country.

Community Violence Solutions provides support services to child and adult victims of sexual assault and their families through these main programs:

• 24-Hour Crisis Intervention Hotline and Rape Crisis Center
• Sexual Assault Response Team
• Children’s Interview Center
• Prevention Services
• Anti Human Trafficking
• Stand In Pride
• Differential Response Team

About Children Interview Center of Contra Costa

The Children’s Interview Center of Contra Costa, a program of Community Violence Solutions, provides a variety of specialized services to children who have been sexually abused and their non-offending family members. Services provided include child forensic interviews, non-acute medical examinations, advocacy services, and parent education. The primary goals of the Children’s Interview Center (CIC) are to:

• provide a safe, child-friendly place where children who allege sexual abuse can have a standardized forensic interview
• improve the collection of evidence
• reduce the trauma experienced by the child by decreasing the need for multiple interviews by various agencies.