The families of two detectives who died in the line of duty accepted the Police Department’s highest honors at yesterday’s annual Medal Day ceremony.

The detectives, Dillon Stewart and Daniel Enchautegui, died just two weeks apart in shooting incidents. The police commissioner, Raymond Kelly, praised both men for chasing after criminals until the end and said they died fighting for the department’s noble cause.

“These brave men will live forever in the hearts and minds of their fellow officers,” Mr. Kelly said. “We are here today to ensure that the public never forgets what they did, by awarding them the highest tribute the department can bestow: the Medal of Honor.”

Stewart would have been 35 and Enchautegui would have been 28. The deaths of the detectives dealt a blow to a city that had grown calm with years of decreasing crime rates. Although both men were officers, they were promoted posthumously to detective, first grade.

Stewart was sitting in an unmarked car outside a club in Brooklyn on November 28, 2005, when a car sped through a red light. When he and his partner gave chase, the driver fired through his passenger window into the police car, hitting Stewart once under his arm.The bullet hit only a fraction of an inch above his bulletproof vest. Despite his injury, he kept pursuing the driver to a garage. Other officers followed the man, Allan Cameron, and arrested him. Stewart was taken to King’s Country Hospital, but later died from his wounds. Cameron was charged with murder.

Mr. Kelly placed the Medal of Honor around the slender neck of Stewart’s 7-year-old daughter, Alexis. Mr. Bloomberg bussed the cheeks of the slain detective’s widow, Leslyn Stewart, 30, and another relative.

Although off duty and sitting at home, Enchautegui still reacted like a police officer to suspicious sounds outside his house on December 10, 2005. Investigating further, he found broken glass next to his neighbor’s window.

When two men, Lillo Brancato and Steven Armento, furtively exited the house, he identified himself as a police officer and told them to stop. One man pulled out a gun and shot him in the chest, but he managed to return fire, hitting both men, according to police. They were soon arrested, but Enchautegui was fatally wounded and died at Jacobi Medical Center. Messrs. Brancato and Armento are charged with murder, burglary, and possession of an illegal weapon. Mr. Brancato was an extra on the television show “The Sopranos.”

Enchautegui’s mother, Maria Rosa, received his Medal of Honor.

The Medal of Honor has a gold bar with “Valor” inscribed on it, a green ribbon with 12 white stars – one for each of the original police constables – and an eight-point star with the Seal of the City of New York.

In addition to the two Medals of Honor, the department yesterday awarded 21 Police Combat Crosses, 13 Medals of Valor, four Purple Shields, and 11 Unit Citations.