One distinctive feature of Young's career was as a police reformer in colonial hotspots. Young was sent on four such missions. First came a short period in the Gold Coast in 1950 preparing the blueprint for the role of the police as the colony was being prepared to become the first British territory in Africa to be granted independence since South Africa in 1910. Then in 1952–1953, Young was seconded to the Federation of Malaya to be Commissioner of Police during the Emergency. In 1954, Young was asked to undertake a second secondment in the UK's troubled colonies - this time in Kenya as Commissioner of Police during Mau Mau. However, he resigned after less than eight months, allegedly because he disapproved of the way in which some of the rebels were mistreated.