Can I get a caution removed from my record?

If you have received a police caution, you may be asking; can I get a caution removed from my record?

The simple answer to this question is that you can get a caution removed from the Police National Computer (PNC).

It will depend on a number of factors whether, in your circumstances, you will be able to get your police caution removed from your record.

The first question you will need to ask yourself is, do I actually have a police caution. Sometimes the police may simply warn someone they suspect of committing a crime, without giving then a formal caution.

A police caution is typically (although not always) issued at a police station. There are also formal procedures that you would need to go through. You should have been offered access to a lawyer, and been provided detailed warnings about the caution. Furthermore you should have clearly admitted to the allegation. So typically, you would know whether you have received a caution or not.

The police can sometimes issue cautions in other locations, outside of the police station, such as someone’s home, but this tended to happen more in the past. Even if a caution is issued outside of a police station, the same formal procedures should be followed by the police.

When issued with a  caution, the police will issue a document, typically titled “simple police caution” or “conditional caution” and it will have your details, the offence details, and there will usually be a warning sheet attached, which details all the implications about the caution.

If you are unsure if you have a caution or not, you can check the PNC by running this check here:  PNC Check

This check will detail all convictions, cautions and arrests held against your name. If your records have been entered onto the PNC, they will be retained until you reach 100 years of age, unless deleted.

If you have checked the PNC and you have a caution, or you are sure you received the caution without checking the PNC (we have only seen one occasion, out of hundreds, where a caution was erroneously not added to the PNC) you can then investigate whether you can get your caution removed from your record.

There are a number of grounds detailed by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) for when a PNC record can be deleted. These include grounds such as where you can show the case was based on a mistaken identity, a malicious or false allegation, where no crime occurred, where the police incorrectly disposed of your case, and other grounds.

These deletion grounds are reflective of statutory and case law that has been promulgated over the years, so that all cases will generally fall into one of the NPCC’s grounds for record deletion.

If the police have fundamentally breached the police caution procedure, then you will have a good case to have your caution removed.

Also, dependant on the facts and circumstances, the police may be willing to reconsider your case, even where the police can not be said to have broken the rules. It will depend on your circumstances and how the facts and law are presented.

As with any legal case, you can present your case yourself to the police, but you can also instruct a lawyer to assist you with your application. We have many years of experience in dealing with police record deletion, including successfully applying for deletion of 100s of police cautions, with police forces across England and Wales.

When preparing a legal submission, you will also need to carefully consider what would happen if the police do not agree to delete your police caution. You will need to frame your application bearing in mind how the court may view you case, and taking into consideration the evidential issues that may arise further down the line.

When we prepare a deletion application, we always prepare thinking about how a High Court judge may perceive a case during judicial review proceedings. This way we are able to determine at an early stage whether your case has a good prospect of success.

If we feel, based on our experience and detailed knowledge of the law, that a judge is likely to side with you, then we will have more confidence in advising you that your case has a good prospect of success.

Our aim is always to avoid taking a case to court, but as we always prepare for that eventuality, we are able to advise clients at an early stage if they have a reasonable prospect of success. If we proceed to preparing a deletion application, we can then tip the odds of success in your favour, without the need for court.

So, to answer the question, can I get a caution removed from my record? We can say that you definitely can get a caution removed from your record, we have successfully applied to delete 100s of cautions from the PNC over the years. It will however all depend on the facts of your case, and how these facts are presented to the police.

Due to our dedicated experience in this field, where we have devoted thousands of hours representing clients and researching the law, we believe we  give our clients the required edge to win a case, and have their caution deleted.

We believe personally in the work we do, as we know the huge impact a caution, or other police record can have on good people’s careers and lives, and we always fight for our clients to achieve a clear record.

If you would like to arrange an initial consultation to discuss police caution deletion, then please get in touch.