In 1986, Lauretta Hill was a 15-year-old usher leading people to their seats at the NCAA Final Four games in Dallas.

Fast forward 28 years, and Lauretta Hill is seeing many of her dreams come true in Arlington.

Lauretta Hill is the chair of the 2014 Regional Public Safety Planning Committee where she oversees the security operations for one of the largest sporting events to ever come to North Texas. The NCAA Men's Final Four Tournament is being played in Arlington this week at AT&T Stadium, and Hill's task is to ensure that fans are safe in their seats.

"I was just a little girl from Oak Cliff with a big dream," the APD commander said. Hill said she was fortunate to be hired part-time by a local security company 28 years ago to work with the NCAA and get the experience that led her on the path to today.

Since then, she has enjoyed 20 years of progressive experience in policing. Hill joined APD in 1994 after graduation from UT Arlington. She has achieved many milestones, graduating from the FBI National Academy and becoming Arlington's first female African American assistant police chief. In the U.S., she is among an elite, but growing class of black females excelling in law enforcement executive roles.

With a good foundation, hard work and determination, Hill said her dreams are coming true.

"It's humbling," she says today. "I am convinced that anything is possible. If it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone."