diff --git a/src/include/policy.h b/src/include/policy.h
index 3f594f43d..ff637ce03 100644
--- a/src/include/policy.h
+++ b/src/include/policy.h
@@ -207,9 +207,8 @@ typedef struct Aerospike_JobConstants {
 #define AEROSPIKE_JOB_CONSTANTS_ARR_SIZE                                       \
     (sizeof(aerospike_job_constants) / sizeof(AerospikeJobConstants))
 
-as_status pyobject_to_policy_admin(AerospikeClient *self, as_error *err,
-                                   PyObject *py_policy, as_policy_admin *policy,
-                                   as_policy_admin **policy_p,
+as_status pyobject_to_policy_admin(as_error *err, PyObject *py_policy,
+                                   as_policy_admin *policy,
                                    as_policy_admin *config_admin_policy);
 
 as_status pyobject_to_policy_apply(AerospikeClient *self, as_error *err,
diff --git a/src/main/client/admin.c b/src/main/client/admin.c
index 9f2332d56..10a64bd24 100644
--- a/src/main/client/admin.c
+++ b/src/main/client/admin.c
@@ -123,8 +123,8 @@ PyObject *AerospikeClient_Admin_Create_User(AerospikeClient *self,
     password = PyUnicode_AsUTF8(py_password);
 
     // Convert python object to policy_admin
-    pyobject_to_policy_admin(self, &err, py_policy, &admin_policy,
-                             &admin_policy_p, &self->as->config.policies.admin);
+    pyobject_to_policy_admin(&err, py_policy, &admin_policy,
+                             &self->as->config.policies.admin);
     if (err.code != AEROSPIKE_OK) {
         goto CLEANUP;
     }
diff --git a/src/main/policy.c b/src/main/policy.c
index 4670f65f9..39559171b 100644
--- a/src/main/policy.c
+++ b/src/main/policy.c
@@ -52,12 +52,25 @@
 
 #define POLICY_UPDATE() *policy_p = policy;
 
-#define POLICY_SET_FIELD(__field, __type)                                      \
+#define POLICY_SET_BASE_FIELD(__field, __type)                                 \
     {                                                                          \
-        PyObject *py_field = PyDict_GetItemString(py_policy, #__field);        \
-        if (py_field) {                                                        \
+        PyObject *py_field_name = PyUnicode_FromString(#__field);              \
+        if (py_field_name == NULL) {                                           \
+            return -1;                                                         \
+        }                                                                      \
+        PyObject *py_field =                                                   \
+            PyDict_GetItemWithError(py_policy, py_field_name);                 \
+        Py_DECREF(py_field_name);                                              \
+        if (py_field == NULL && PyErr_Occurred()) {                            \
+            return -1;                                                         \
+        }                                                                      \
+        else if (py_field) {                                                   \
             if (PyLong_Check(py_field)) {                                      \
-                policy->__field = (__type)PyLong_AsLong(py_field);             \
+                long field_val = PyLong_AsLong(py_field);                      \
+                if (field_val == -1 && PyErr_Occurred()) {                     \
+                    return -1;                                                 \
+                }                                                              \
+                policy->base.__field = (__type)field_val;                      \
             }                                                                  \
             else {                                                             \
                 return as_error_update(err, AEROSPIKE_ERR_PARAM,               \
@@ -66,12 +79,25 @@
         }                                                                      \
     }
 
-#define POLICY_SET_BASE_FIELD(__field, __type)                                 \
+#define POLICY_SET_FIELD(__field, __type)                                      \
     {                                                                          \
-        PyObject *py_field = PyDict_GetItemString(py_policy, #__field);        \
-        if (py_field) {                                                        \
+        PyObject *py_field_name = PyUnicode_FromString(#__field);              \
+        if (py_field_name == NULL) {                                           \
+            return -1;                                                         \
+        }                                                                      \
+        PyObject *py_field =                                                   \
+            PyDict_GetItemWithError(py_policy, py_field_name);                 \
+        Py_DECREF(py_field_name);                                              \
+        if (py_field == NULL && PyErr_Occurred()) {                            \
+            return -1;                                                         \
+        }                                                                      \
+        else if (py_field) {                                                   \
             if (PyLong_Check(py_field)) {                                      \
-                policy->base.__field = (__type)PyLong_AsLong(py_field);        \
+                long field_val = PyLong_AsLong(py_field);                      \
+                if (field_val == -1 && PyErr_Occurred()) {                     \
+                    return -1;                                                 \
+                }                                                              \
+                policy->__field = (__type)field_val;                           \
             }                                                                  \
             else {                                                             \
                 return as_error_update(err, AEROSPIKE_ERR_PARAM,               \
@@ -581,10 +607,8 @@ as_status declare_policy_constants(PyObject *aerospike)
  * We assume that the error object and the policy object are already allocated
  * and initialized (although, we do reset the error object here).
  */
-as_status pyobject_to_policy_admin(AerospikeClient *self, as_error *err,
-                                   PyObject *py_policy, // remove self
+as_status pyobject_to_policy_admin(as_error *err, PyObject *py_policy,
                                    as_policy_admin *policy,
-                                   as_policy_admin **policy_p,
                                    as_policy_admin *config_admin_policy)
 {
 
@@ -599,9 +623,6 @@ as_status pyobject_to_policy_admin(AerospikeClient *self, as_error *err,
         // Set policy fields
         POLICY_SET_FIELD(timeout, uint32_t);
     }
-    // Update the policy
-    POLICY_UPDATE();
-
     return err->code;
 }