Whereas grievous disturbances and disorders do frequently happen in the Cathedral church and within its Liberty, also the constables of the said Minster Yard and officers belonging to the said Cathedral are often abused in executing their office and endeavouring to suppress these several disorders aforesaid.

This certainly gives the impression that the Minster was not held in reverence by all of the inhabitants living within the walled Liberty; policing it was a difficult and sometimes dangerous job.

Today's Minster Police continue to fulfil their policing role with the same dedication and determination of their predecessors. "York Minster Police" is the name used for York Minster's private in-house security team. It is not part of the national police service. In 2019, the Minster employed eight Constables lead by a Head Constable, who in turn was managed by the Security Manager. All Officers completed the Level 3 Certificate in Cathedral Constable Attestation. In 2001 their first female Officer was appointed. Officers worked thirty-eight hours per week with an annual salary of £22,695 (2021).

In 2023, York Minster Police Officers continue to work a thirty-eight hour week, including day and night shifts, now for a salary of £24,544.64 per year. The Minster Police protect the people, building and assets of York Minster. There is also a role of Police Warden that supports the Minster Police Officers by acting as a liaison between departments, the visiting public and the North Yorkshire Police. Full time Police Wardens work a thirty-five hour week with a salary of £19,838. There are both full time and part time Police Wardens with the full-time role generally working from Monday to Friday and the part-time role, being fifteen hours, generally over Saturday and Sunday. The Minster Police are present on the Minster Precinct twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. The current strength is eight Officers and one Inspector. The rank of Sergeant is also used. Appointments are made to a Probationer Officer role or Probationer Warden role. Probationers follow a comprehensive training and monitoring programme to develop knowledge, skills and experience progressing into the corresponding Police Officer or Warden role with a salary increase. Police Officers further progress to an Experienced Officer level of responsibility.

Officers wear a uniform similar to their Home Office colleagues. Until recently, this was a white shirt, black tie, black trousers and a blue NATO-style sweater with a York Minster Police patch worn on the left side of the chest. Officers, when outside, wore a black peaked cap with the familiar blue and white diced band worn by cathedral constables nationally. They wore numerals on their epaulettes together with the Minster's crest of crossed keys surmounted by a crown. The head constable was distinguished by his wearing of a white shirt, and epaulette insignia, similar to that worn by a Police Inspector. Presently, York Minster Police Officers wear police black 'wicking' shirts with stab vests but still with a Minster patch on the left breast. Cloth epaulettes are also worn with the crossed keys, "YORK MINSTER POLICE" and the Officer's number.

The main purpose of the Minster Police is to provide security and ensure that the dignity of the Minster is upheld. In addition to patrolling the Minster and its environs, officers monitor CCTV surveillance and alarms. They are trained in first aid and monitor the health and safety of staff and visitors.

Due to the importance of the Minster, it is regularly visited by dignitaries including senior church officials, government ministers and royalty. The Minster Police regularly liaise with the local constabulary to ensure security during important visits, ceremonies and church services.

Magistrates halted attestation ceremonies for the church in the 1930s but the constable's powers of arrest were officially reinstated in a ceremony in the spring of 2017. However, even those constables who are not attested have retained a power of arrest under Section 3 of the Ecclesiastical Courts Jurisdiction Act 1860 in respect of disruptive behaviour within a cathedral church. In October 2016 eight officers from the York Minster Police completed the course.

The agreement with the North Yorkshire Police sets out that the Minster Police hand over any detainees to that Police Force for transport and processing. The North Yorkshire Police retain prime responsibility for policing the York Minster, being responsible for the investigation of all crime, leading on all major or serious incidents and for the submission of prosecution files.

A number of officers are now attested and hold the powers of constable in the Cathedral and precinct. Newly appointed Officers undertake pre-attestation training provided by the Cathedral Constables' Association (CCA) together with training delivered by the Cathedral. Upon completion Officers are attested and can undertake Officer Safety Training (OST).

Attested officers undergo the same OST provided to Home Office police forces. The CCA works in partnership with their colleagues from the Mersey Tunnels Police who provide instruction in unarmed self-defence, baton and speed cuff techniques. Officers who successfully complete the training are then licensed to carry either the PR24 expandable baton or the Monadnock auto-lock straight baton (Personal Safety Equipment - PSE) for the following 12 months. Licensed officers are required to undertake a two day annual PST refresher in order to renew their authority to carry PSE.

The Minster Police did not routinely carry handcuffs and batons, as incidents of public order were rare, but these implements are now used on a more frequent basis. They go about their work quietly and with great patience. It is important, no matter the issue, that the reverence and spiritual serenity of the Minster is not unduly disturbed.

Having said this, there are times when this is interrupted and the bravery and professionalism of Minster Police officers come to the fore. In October 1989, a man jumped to his death from the south west tower. At the inquest into the death of the individual, Her Majesty's Coroner for the York District commended three police officers, including a Minster Police officer, for their bravery. He recorded:

Of course, such major incidents are exceptionally rare. For the most part, the Minster Police go about their work responding to more routine matters; regularly dealing with queries from visitors.

Officers work out of their office inside the Minster, which is known as the 'Cabin', marked by two old-fashioned truncheons, located in the choir aisle. Working 24/7, 365 days of the year, Minster Police officers are always on hand to assist.

Dean Duncombe had been in office a short time before Morley joined the York Minster Police Force, and had set to work resolutely to bring the Cathedral and its affairs to a more orderly condition. People used to use the nave largely as a promenade before Dean Duncombe's time, and there was an absence of order and reverence in their attitude that was all altered.

Equally vast were the changes which Sergeant Morley had seen in the physical aspect of the Minster precincts. The Act for improving the Minster Close had passed a few years before he entered the service of the Dean and Chapter. The houses which were formerly built on to the west end of St Michael le Belfrey church had gone, but the west end of the Minster was still enclosed by iron palisading with one central gate.

The palisading and gates, Morley, then a workman, helped to remove. He said the gate posts weighed half a ton. Their foundations were still visible. He assisted in paving the forecourt to the west front and pointed out, at the time of his 79th birthday, the actual flagstones which he had laid nearly sixty years ago. Mr Morley retired as the Minster's Chief Officer.

The charge against the youngest, Mollitt, was dismissed on his mother promising to look after him. The cases of the other boys were adjourned for a week.