East Lyme ― Police officer Taylor Desjardins was honored Thursday by the Connecticut Police Chiefs Association at its annual winter meeting.

The East Lyme Police Department on social media said Desjardins received the Samuel Luciano award for the recruit in each class of the Connecticut Police Academy with the highest grade.

Desjardins graduated a year ago with a 93.69, according to the department. She became the 27-member department's sixth female officer.

In July, Desjardins was involved in the arrest of a 18-year-old dirt bike rider after an incident in which police said he filmed another officer's unsuccessful attempt to stop him and then had the video posted to TikTok.

As officers worked to identify the dirt bike rider in the East Lyme case, police said Desjardins became aware of a posting to a TikTok account showing the video taken by the bike operator. That led to police identifying and charging the man.

The department’s social media post said Desjardins “excels at representing the East Lyme Police Department each day with the highest quality of police work possible.”

Desjardins was raised in Plainfield. She graduated from Three Rivers Community College with an associate degree in criminal justice before earning a bachelor's degree in the same field of study from Nichols College in Massachusetts. She previously worked as a judicial marshal for the state, and was a part-time dispatcher for police departments in Plainfield and Putnam.