SEATTLE, WA (NBC News) — Tori Newburn began transitioning 10 years ago, but didn’t come out to fellow officers until last May.

Newburn, 32,  patrols the Seattle Police Department’s east precinct, and said he hasn’t received any negative feedback.

“I was really happy to see and hear that nobody had anything bad to say. You know like, and they weren’t sugarcoating anything because they knew a Transgender person was in the room because they didn’t. You know that was very encouraging,” Newburn said.

Instead, he said people have been sending him cards, and congratulating him. Perhaps that’s partly because he works for a department recognized for its safe place program, which aims to reduce crimes against the LGBT community.