By Stacey Dresner

On Tuesday, June 14, the Jewish Federation of Central Massachusetts honored Worcester Police Chief Steven Sargent with the inaugural Tapper Charitable Foundation Righteous Gentile Award in a ceremony that took place at the Worcester Jewish Community Center. .

Sponsored by the Tapper family, the award will be presented annually to a “righteous gentile” in the Central Massachusetts region who has made meaningful and substantial contributions to the betterment of communities outside of their own heritage and faith.

Steven Sargent became Worcester’s Chief of Police in 2016, after serving for 30 years in the Worcester Police Department, more than 10 of them as Deputy Chief of Police. He holds a Master’s Degree from Curry College and is a graduate of the FBI National Academy.

A lifelong Worcester resident and U.S. Army veteran who served in the military police, Chief Sargent is the son of retired Lt. Richard Sargent, who served with the police force for 36 years before retiring in 2004. One of Chief Sargent’s three sons, Officer Steven T. Sargent, is also patrolman on the Worcester Police Department.

“We are grateful to the Tapper Family and the Tapper Charitable Foundation for entrusting Jewish Federation to oversee this award,” said Steven Schimmel, executive director of the Jewish Federation. “This annual recognition honors the very best among us and Chief Sargent is undoubtedly a worthy inaugural recipient. His work on behalf of faith-based communities is both impactful in that it seeks to save lives, but it is also an example and model for positive, productive relationships between our different faith communities and law enforcement.”

Along with the award, Police Chief Sargent received $10,000 from The Tapper Foundation, which he said will be donated to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and the Manny 267 Foundation, which provides water safety and rescue training to police officers after last year’s tragic death of Worcester Police Officer Enmanuel ‘Manny’ Familia during an attempt to rescue a drowning 14-year old boy.

Besides his outreach to the Jewish community and throughout Worcester,  Police Chief Sargent is known for helping create Worcester’s Gang Unit and for his work in youth violence prevention and intervention programs.

MAIN PHOTO: At the Tapper Charitable Foundation Righteous Gentile Award ceremony are: (l to r) Worcester City Councillor Moe Bergman; Mary Sargent; and her husband, Police Chief Steven Sargent; Jewish Community Security Liaison Mark Shear; JFCM Executive Director Steven Schimmel; and Lynne Tapper of the Tapper Charitable Foundation.