Newtown Police Officer Maryhelen McCarthy has received a community service award from the Agency on Aging of South Central Connecticut.

During October 24 ceremonies at the agency’s annual breakfast meeting at the Race Brook Country Club in Orange, the agency presented Ofc McCarthy with an Outstanding Partner Award to recognize her work to stop ageism. The agency is a nonprofit group that advocates for the elderly.

Ofc McCarthy was nominated for the award by Newtown Director of Senior Services Marilyn Place. In the nomination, Ms Place noted Ofc McCarthy’s extensive investigative work in a criminal case involving the abuse of a senior citizen by caretakers, according to Newtown police. That case was successfully prosecuted in Connecticut Superior Court in Danbury.

Police Chief James Viadero said the award provides Ofc McCarthy with well-deserved recognition of her work to help the elderly.

“The service and dedication to our towns’ seniors and senior-related programs has been a testament to Ofc McCarthy’s compassion for that segment of our community. We thank her for all she does while on duty and off, often giving up her personal time for our seniors and their very vital programs,” the police chief said.

“We are fortunate to have an officer who works closely with the senior center and the issues confronting the senior community in Newtown. Maryhelen dedicates a great deal of her own personal time to the effort, and we are extremely proud to of those efforts,” said Chief Viadero.

“Our [police] department recognizes that seniors represent a large portion of our Newtown community, and we want to make sure we provide the services needed and deserved by them. Far too often, crimes against seniors, particularly in the case in which Maryhelen was honored, involving senior abuse go unreported,” the chief added.

In that incident, a missing person report was quickly recognized as a abused senior incident that had evolved over a long period of time. Ofc McCarthy and the other officers involved did an exemplary job in investigating the incident and working with prosecutors in obtaining a successful prosecution, he said.