DateFormatConstant
DateFormat is not thread-safe, and should not be used as a constant field.

The problem

DateFormat is not thread-safe. The documentation recommends creating separate format instances for each thread. If multiple threads access a format concurrently, it must be synchronized externally.

The Google Java Style Guide §5.2.4 requires CONSTANT_CASE to only be used for static final fields whose contents are deeply immutable and whose methods have no detectable side effects, so fields of type DateFormat should not use CONSTANT_CASE.

TIP: Consider using the java.time API added in Java8, in particular DateTimeFormatter. One its many advantages over DateFormat is that it is immutable and thread-safe.

If the date formatter is accessed by multiple threads, consider using ThreadLocal:

private static final ThreadLocal<DateFormat> DATE_FORMAT =
    ThreadLocal.withInitial(() -> new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm"));

If the field is never accessed by multiple threads, rename it to use lowerCamelCase.

// not thread safe
private static final DateFormat dateFormat =
    new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm");

Suppression

Suppress false positives by adding the suppression annotation @SuppressWarnings("DateFormatConstant") to the enclosing element.