Jason Young has been named the Kentucky State Police Post 10 Trooper of the Year.

The honor was bestowed upon Young at a ceremony recently held in Frankfort, where 70 other awards were presented to the Kentucky State Police and Commercial Vehicle Enforcement officers throughout the state.

Young is a seven-year veteran of the state police and is from Pennington Gap, Va. He is a graduate of Lee High School and attended Mountain Empire College in Big Stone Gap, Va. During the past year, Young issued 2,664 citations and made 94 DUI arrests and 265 criminal arrests.

“Jason is a fine, young trooper who gives me a tremendous sense of pride in my post and my agency. He loves being a trooper, and that parlays itself into an extraordinary level of commitment to the job he does. Jason is very active and consistently strives to fulfill our mission. He just simply doesn’t have a ‘low gear.’ He is an important part of our community, and I am proud to have had him represent Post 10 as our Trooper of the Year,” said Post 10 Commander John Bradley.

Young spent his first two years as a trooper in Morehead before coming to Harlan. Young said he was surprised and honored to receive the award.

“I take a lot of pride in my job, and I’m very proud to be a part of the Kentucky State Police,” Young said.

Keeping the highways safe is one of Young’s main goals as a trooper.

“I’m in a position where I can help people,” Young said. “I can make a difference, and that’s what I do every day. When I go to work, I want to try and make a difference in somebody’s life. If it means writing tickets to help save somebody’s life, that’s what I’m going to do. If I can save one person’s life by my enforcement of the law, then I’ve done my job.”

Young conducted this interview midway through his work shift on Sunday, by which time he had already written over 60 citations for traffic violations.

During the ceremony in Frankfort, Bradley also learned that Post 10 had won the 2008 KSP Safe Driving Award.

The award recognizes the post with the highest average number of safe driving miles between assessable accidents. Post 10 had a record of 1,139,451 miles with zero assessable accidents.

“I was very pleased to have accepted the KSP Safe Driving Award on behalf of Post 10,” Bradley said. “Each year, the agency honors the post that accumulates the ratio of most miles driven against the lowest number of ‘at-fault’ crashes. Typically, it is difficult for posts in eastern Kentucky to win this award because of the added factors of a higher workload, more dangerous roadways and typically more inclement weather. This just underscores the professionalism of our troopers at Post 10 and commitment to the safety of the public they serve. I am proud of them.”