Policeman putting criminals before bench (9)
I believe the answer is:
constable
'policeman' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'criminals before bench' is the wordplay.
'criminals' becomes 'cons'.
'before' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'bench' becomes 'table' (I've seen this in other clues).
'cons'+'table'='CONSTABLE'
'putting' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for constable that I've seen before include "Copper - artist" , "Flatford Mill painter" , "Policeman - landscape artist" , "PC" , "Force member" .)