Baltimore Police Deputy Commissioner for Administration Deborah A. Owens was recognized by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake this morning with the Richard Lidinsky Sr. Award of Excellence in Public Service.

Owens, a member of the department since 1989 who is retiring this year, was given the award in a ceremony at City Hall. Officials said the award is handed out by a committee and given to "long-serving city employees who have worked to improve city services and make city government more efficient." There's a $2,500 prize and a plaque is placed in the City Hall rotunda.

[Sun file photo - 2007]

Owens oversees issues of staffing, recruitment and discipline, and has been a trailblazer as the first woman to hold the chief of patrol position and the first to be promoted to deputy commissioner, when Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III made her part of what he refers to as "Team Bealefeld." Here's an article from 2007 that featured Owens interacting with residents for an "Adopt a Block" program.