Northumbria Police

Application criteria

Convictions and cautions

Police officers must respect and uphold the law. They should be law abiding and have a high standard of personal behaviour and social conduct.

Officers with criminal associations or convictions may be vulnerable to pressure to disclose information and convictions and/or cautions for certain offences can also undermine a police officer's position as a witness in court. 

For these reasons, police forces carefully consider an applicant's criminal record prior to accepting an application.

Convictions or cautions will not necessarily preclude you from appointment. It will depend on their nature and the circumstances of the offence. Failure to disclose convictions or cautions will, however, result in your application being terminated.

We will also want to know whether any of your close family or associates are involved in criminal activity and we will therefore search for any criminal convictions or cautions recorded against your family.  You must advise them that these enquiries will be made. The police service cannot disclose the results of these enquiries to you.

Although you may still be eligible to join the police service if you have minor convictions and/or cautions, there are certain offences and conditions which will make you ineligible.  Read the following and if you are still unsure you should contact the Recruitment Unit at upsrecruitment@northumbria.pnn.police.uk.