The new San Jose police chief started his job under what one county official called "a looming shadow of doubt" about his acceptance of transgender people.
Anthony Mata, a deputy police chief who has been with the San Jose Police Department for 25 years, was selected as the city's top cop March 16.
He started in the position March 22. As KGO-TV reported, in the days before Mata's appointment was announced, Julie Callahan — a trans woman who had served as an SJPD officer for almost 30 years — wrote City Manager David Sykes about why Mata would be a bad choice.
Callahan, who founded the Transgender Community of Police and Sheriffs, declined to share the letter with the Bay Area Reporter.