Officer Thelma Matthews is a loving mother who speaks proudly of the two sons she raised to be “good kids and good students with goals in mind.” But despite her maternal nature, Matthews is not someone to mess with: She can shoot a target up to 75 feet away with stunning precision, a skill that earned her Sacramento State’s 2006 Top Gun Sharpshooter Award.

Matthews’ win catapulted her from a two-year veteran of the Sac State police force to a history-making campus icon. She is the first female officer to ever receive the award, an accomplishment which Matthews said “feels so good.”

“I’m proud of myself,” Matthews added. “It’s something so positive.”

Matthews didn’t know that an otherwise ordinary skills test on July 13 would determine the award’s winner. She went through her drills that day at the Old Folsom prison shooting range as she always does – aiming for the human silhouette-shaped target the best she could.

“All I remember from that day is being told, ‘You’re going to be graded for accuracy, so every shot counts,'” Matthews said. “So I took my time and tried to relax.”

At the end of her round, she approached the range master, anxiously hoping that she had passed the test.

“When I finished, I was concerned,” Matthews said. “If I didn’t get enough points, I would have had to do the test again until I passed.” When the range master took longer than usual to score her shots, Matthews’ nervousness escalated. However, that feeling soon passed.

“The range master looked at me and said, ‘So far I think you have enough points to be the Top Gun,'” to which an astonished Matthews replied, “‘Are you kidding? Are you actually serious?’ I thought this was too good to be true.”

There were certainly moments in her life when Matthews never imagined hearing such good news. After moving to California from her native Mexico in 1989, she and her husband divorced, and she was suddenly faced with raising her children as a single mother. Although she previously practiced medicine as a general practitioner in Mexico, her credentials weren’t accepted in America.

“Everything started falling apart,” Matthews said. “I had to take care of my kids and provide everything.” She began looking for immediate job opportunities with benefits and good pay, as well as a career that she could enjoy. But most importantly, Matthews said, she wanted to be a role model for her children.

“I wanted to show my kids that I was going to do it, and I was not going to break in the middle of everything,” Matthews said. “I knew I just had to work harder than before.”

A position as a temporary office assistant with the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office led to her acceptance into a police academy, from which she graduated in 2002. Two years later she accepted a job with the Sac State bike patrol unit, where she typically deals with property crimes. She is one of two female officers on campus.

Matthews is confident she made the right career move.

“I have no regrets,” she said. “I love it here.”

Despite never having used a gun during her years on the force, Matthews said she is not afraid to use it if necessary.

“When the time comes, I’ll be ready,” Matthews said. “If somebody is in danger, or if I’m in danger, I’m not afraid to use it.”

Campus Police Chief Ken Barnett said Matthews is a “true professional.”

“Her goal is to serve the community and be fair and equitable with everybody,” he said, adding that her interpersonal skills contribute to her success. “She’s a very good people person.”

Barnett said that taking action is just part of Matthews’ nature, and that she is a role model for everyone. Matthews, who hadn’t even touched a gun before police training in 2002, “always spends the time to improve her skills,” he said.

Matthews’ future ambitions include getting promoted – “I absolutely want to move up the ranks,” she said – as well as proving to others that hard work pays off.

“I want to show that being a female is not an obstacle to being a police officer,” Matthews said. “I want people to fight for what they want.”

According to Matthews, her fight has been worth it.

“My determination and my persistence paid off,” she said. “I used to think that I was never going to be good enough. This proved me wrong.” It also proved, she said, that sometimes life doesn’t always go according to plan.

“I never thought I would be here in the (US) as a police officer,” she added. “But things change, and you have to roll with the changes.” Now that her sons are in college, Matthews is also considering applying to medical school so that she can one day practice medicine again.

Her adaptation to life’s curveballs is what makes Matthews proud when she walks past the Top Gun trophy that bears her name each day in the department’s training room.

“I know my name is part of CSUS police department history,” she said. “To see my name there for generations to come is really amazing.” If she had the same opportunities again, Matthews said, she would make the same decisions in a heartbeat.

“I wanted to be in a place where I could make a difference,” she said. “I feel like I did what I needed to do.”

True to her goals, and her sharpshooter title, Matthews is really making her mark.

Megan Chuchmach can be reached at [email protected]