Trans cops

There has been discussion recently of the reactionary autobiography by Rene Jax (spelt without the usual accents). He (for he has reverted) has the impertinence to claim to be the ‘first’ transgender cop. It is always inadvisable to claim to be the ‘first’ anything, as almost always other earlier ones come to light.

As we know only 1-2% of those who transition, later de-transition. As such, medical sex-change is one of the most successful branches of medicine. In particular the regret rates in plastic surgery range up to 47%; having children and getting a tattoo have regret rates of 7 % and 16.2 %, respectively.

However some sections of the press like to dramatise transsexual surgery regret, and Walt Heyer (1940 -) has made a career from his detransition. Jax appears to be doing something similar.

Jax, born 1954, social transition 1977, surgery 1990, detransition 2022, maintains an ignorance of the transgender cops who preceded him. He even ignores Carol Katz (see below) also in California, and who transitioned in 1974, only three years earlier. This is a bit much.

There are actually quite a lot of transgender cops, both trans men and trans woman. Here are the best known of transgender cops who very much pre-date Jax.

Fernando Mackenzie (1836- ?) transitioned while still a child. He did national service in the French army. At the age of 35 he migrated to Spain and joined the Madrid police force. After a move to Seville, still serving as a policeman he was employed at the governor’s palace. In this role he served under seven successive governors. Two years after his wife died, he was badly injured in a street accident, and was taken to hospital where it was revealed that he had a female body. Consequently he was dismissed and denied his pension.

Emilie Kellner (1873- ?) a Berlin police officer (Kriminalschutzmann) who was allowed to dress female while on duty from 1912. Kellner became one of Hirschfeld's patients, but after moving to the suburb of Charlottenburg, became unemployed.

Tony Barreto-Neto (1945- ) first a lesbian and then a trans activist. In his 40s Barreto-Neto became a cop in Hillsborough, Florida and became a decorated police officer with numerous awards. He transitioned to Tony on the job. After hostility from fellow cops, he joined the Hardwick, Vermont, Police Department. After being ostracized, he sued, won and established for the first time that trans persons are protected under Vermont law.

Carol Katz

Carol Katz (1947 - ) Katz was a US Federal law enforcement agent in Los Angeles until 1973 when she resigned and started to transition. She started a transsexual support group in 1980 and was a charter member of the ACLU Transsexual Rights Committee. From 1979-81 she was on the Christopher Street West Gay pride Parade and Festival Committee. She recruited trans persons to work as parade monitors and in festival security. She used her contacts to effect greater co-operation with the various police forces.

Alexandra Selyaninova (? - ) served in the Red Army, then as a police officer. After a transfer to the Perm Region as a Police Captain, far away from relatives and old friends, Selyaninova began to wear female clothing, and applied for a medical examination. Doctors from Moscow diagnosed Selyaninova as transsexual. There were two operations in 1991, and Alexandra was issued a new passport and birth certificate. She stayed in Perm and ran her own business.

In the 1990s, there were enough trans cops to found TOPS (Transgender Officers Protect and Serve), which later became TCOPS (Transgender Community of Police & Sheriffs) with a world wide membership in the 100s.

Two more trans cops of interest:

Laura de Costa Teixeira (1980-) previously in charge of the anti-drugs squad in the north-east city of Goiana, Pernambuco, Brazil, transitioned in 2013 with surgery in Thailand, and then transferred to a police unit that specializes in countering crimes against women.

Lorimer Shenher, previously of the Vancouver Police Department, was involved in the Missing Women Investigation that eventually led to the arrest and conviction of serial killer Robert Pickton in 2007. Shenher transitioned in 2015, and has published two books: That Lonely Section of Hell: The Botched Investigation of a Serial Killer Who Almost Got Away, 2025 and This One Looks Like a Boy, 2019, his autobiography.