By Tony 1 - 7 Jun 24 5:02 PM
In 1989 and 1997 I was convicted of theift and fraud. Both times recieved fine and community service order. I have recently applied for an enhanced disclosure certificate and it has no record of either conviction on it. I have was honest when filling in the forms and gave all the correct details ref addresses etc.
Because there was nothing on the DBS I did a subject access request to my local force and they told me there are no records of me ever being convicted of anything on the National Police database.
How can this be??
Cheers
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By AB2014 - 3 Sep 24 3:40 PM
+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+xIn 1989 and 1997 I was convicted of theift and fraud. Both times recieved fine and community service order. I have recently applied for an enhanced disclosure certificate and it has no record of either conviction on it. I have was honest when filling in the forms and gave all the correct details ref addresses etc. Because there was nothing on the DBS I did a subject access request to my local force and they told me there are no records of me ever being convicted of anything on the National Police database. How can this be?? Cheers I would obtain a certified copy for your retention and presentation. Plus not raise it with the autorities unless a bad occurance / scenario arises. The reason they are no longer there is probably because the filtering rules changed in November 2020 after a Supreme Court ruling against the government. Part of the changes was to do away with the multiple convictions rule, so each conviction is now treated separately. It looks like your convictions are eligible for filtering, so they have been filtered since the end of November 2020. That means employers no longer have the legal right to that information, so you can stop disclosing them! A subject access request to your local force will only show what they have on their local files. That would be stuff like allegations, safeguarding intelligence, community resolution orders and so on. To get a copy of your Police National Computer record, you need to make a subject access request to ACRO, via their website here. It's free, so you might as well.... What about convictions that don't show up either on a DBS or on the Police and, for example, applying for a passport? Does it still mean that they don't have to be declared? If your subject access request from ACRO says you have no convictions then they don't exist. Maybe they were deleted (they used to call it weeding) in the dim and distant past when the police still routinely deleted cautions and convictions. In any case, if you have no convictions then you have nothing to disclose for anything. Thanks. I believe you but I am an anxious person. The immigration law says that a conviction needs to be declared even it is spent. Just for the record. Am I clear to apply for UK passport and not declare this conviction? Again, sorry for the pedantry but I am paranoid. It's true that the Home Office will check your record on the Police National Computer, which means they will see exactly what you will see if you make a subject access request to ACRO. Tell them whatever you see on that document when it comes back to you. Do they ask criminal record questions on passport applications now? Their website will tell you what documents you will need, but there is no link between your passport and your criminal record, so I can't see why they would ask. It's not a passport application. It's British citizenship application. Sorry if I didn't mention it properly. "All applicants for British citizenship must declare all convictions when applying and this includes any previous offences that may be spent under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. In addition, you are required to provide details of any police cautions or minor offences – even if they occurred a long time ago." I was cautioned, even if only for a few hours. Not sure if there is a record for this. I wrote multiple times to the Magistrate Court of the time but they haven't replied. I am terrified. What if I don't declare it and then they find out? This will be a criminal offence. This has put me off applying for citizenship. The application form might be different, but your PNC record remains the same. Forget the enhanced DBS check, as old convictions can be removed from those, and your convictions would have been removed after changes in the law in late 2020. Forget asking your local police force about your record, as they can only tell you if they have information that isn't on the PNC, such as allegations, Fixed Penalty Notices and so on. Make a subject access request to ACRO via their website here. It's free, but it takes a month to come back to you. That will tell you what is on your Police National Computer record. You can then include any cautions or convictions on your application. I would be very disappointed if relatively minor offences from last century caused a problem. You say you were cautioned, even if only for a few hours. Don't get confused by the difference between a police caution and being interviewed under caution. A police caution is a formal outcome that involves a sergeant (or someone of higher rank) getting you to sign a form accepting the caution. Being interviewed under caution just means they tell you that you have the right to remain silent, etc. Again, make that subject access request to ACRO, because then you will know exactly what to disclose and you won't have to worry about whether you're giving them accurate information. I was actually locked up in a police cell for an hour until they could verify my address, Not sure of they had the right to do so, When I was sentenced to a fine the day later, at the Magistrate Court, also they locked me up in a cell until a friend of mine came to pay the fine. Being locked up in a police cell is standard practice, and many people are locked in a cell then released without charge. Being held in a cell until someone pays your fine sounds unusual, but if you say you can't pay, they will hold you until you can arrange for someone else to pay for you. Should I not declare this on my citizenship application?
Only declare what is on your PNC record. If it is not there, don't disclose it, which is why it is important to get a free copy of your record from ACRO. Disclose what is on there and don't disclose anything else.
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