Officer Joseph Young of the 12th District wins Fencl Award

You could forgive a cop who's worked in one district for 25 years if he started getting a little tired, a little jaded, from dealing with the same problems over and over again.

It could happen to anyone, really. But not to Officer Joseph Young.

He's spent the better part of his career serving as the community-relations officer for Southwest Philadelphia's 12th District - headquartered at 65th Street and Woodland Avenue - a job that has made him the go-to guy for just about any resident who's had a complaint or a concern.

Drug dealers setting up shop in an abandoned house on your block?

Call Officer Young.

Most of the kids in your neighborhood don't have heavy coats to get them through the long, cold winter?

Call Officer Young.

Time and again, residents say, the 59-year-old has lent them a hand, solved their neighborhood disputes and helped to improve their quality of life.

For all of those reasons and more, the veteran cop is the winner of the Daily News' 26th annual George Fencl Award.

"I really couldn't believe it," Young said of learning from Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey that he had won the Fencl Award, which was created to honor the iconic Civil Affairs chief inspector.

"The 12th [District] is one of the greatest areas to work," he said. "There are so many good people who want the best for the neighbors.

"They care for us and we care for them."

One letter writer who nominated Young for the award called the veteran cop "a man of high integrity . . . he demonstrates in word and deed the notion of community servant."

SWAT unit Sgt. Christopher Binns and Sgt. Greg Masi of the Communications Bureau were named Fencl finalists.

Binns, 50, a 21-year veteran, was shot in the helmet in December during an encounter with a fugitive in the Summerdale section of the Northeast.

Masi, 55, a 34-year veteran, is responsible for supervising the department's 9-1-1 system and monitoring complaints of dispatchers.