The first Hispanic to take command of the second-largest police department in the U.S., Matt Rodriguez joined the Chicago police department in 1959. For the next 30 years, he climbed to the top of the force while earning several college degrees and serving as a professor of criminal justice at the University of Illinois. Appointed deputy superintendent of the Bureau of Technical Sources in 1980, he held his post for 12 years before being named superintendent of the Chicago Police Department on April 13, 1992. Overseeing a force of 15,500, Rodriguez still finds time to work on behalf of aspiring Hispanics, serving as chairman of the Hispanic Institute of Law Enforcement and increasing the number of Hispanics in the police force. (Photo Courtesy of C-SPAN.ORG)