Retired Brookline Police Officer Honored With Black Excellence Award

BROOKLINE, MA — A resident has been named a recipient for a prestigious statewide recognition.

Retired Police Officer Debbie Hatzieleftheriadis is a contender for the 2026 Black Excellence on the Hill Award, which highlights Black community leaders and trailblazers who are making positive impacts in their fields of expertise during Black History Month. Nominees are recognized at the State House in Boston during an annual event hosted by The Massachusetts Black and Latino Legislative Caucus. She was nominated by State Rep. Tommy Vitolo.

Hatzieleftheriadis is a lifelong Brookline resident who became the town’s first African-American female police officer in 1998. Throughout her career, she was an instructor of the department’s DARE Program, which helped teach youth about the dangers of drugs and gang violence for 17 years. In addition, Hatzieleftheriadis was also ran a youth basketball camp in the summer, took young people under her wing through the Peer Leadership Program, and was a co-founder of the Round Table Initiative, which brought police together with other community leaders so they could jointly work together on how to best support the younger generation. She was once the President of the Friends of Lars Anderson organization.

Since her retirement in 2020, Hatzieleftheriadis has remained heavily invested and involved in Brookline events as a Town Meeting member, Constable, Parks and Recreation Commissioner, and board member of the Greenspace Alliance.

Hatzieleftheriadis was inducted into the Brookline High School Athletic Hall of Fame two years ago for her prolific soccer career.

The MBLLC Caucus dates back more than 50 years, while the Black Excellence on the Hill Awards began in 2020. Hatzieleftheriadis was one of 100 people recognized in 2026, as each state representative and state senator gets to nominate one person from their constituency.

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