Police got a criminal showing remorse (10)

I believe the answer is:

apologetic

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'police got a criminal showing remorse' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.

'police got a criminal' is the wordplay.
'criminal' is an anagram indicator.
'police'+'got'+'a'='policegota'
'policegota' anagrammed gives 'APOLOGETIC'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for apologetic that I've seen before include "Acknowledging faults" , "Expressing regret" , "Acknowledging failure" , "Regretful" , "in sorry state" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.

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