Change is the only constant in communication. In social media in particular, platforms often come and go very quickly: whereas Snapchat was the next hot thing yesterday, today it's Insta stories. The NRW police are facing up to this change so that they can also communicate their content in a target group-oriented way.
The NRW police use social networks to reach more people than almost any other medium. Practically in real time. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and co. also offer the opportunity to talk to people. This means that this communication channel is not a one-way street.
Equipped with a smartphone, anyone can become a live reporter at a shooting spree, demo or serious traffic accident. This changes the work of the press. And, of course, it also changes the public relations work of the police. Today, this work must above all be fast, transparent and reliable. On the other hand, activity on social media must be read like a seismograph for press and public relations work.
What is happening right now? What moves people? Is there an urgent need for action? In future, the police will find out more and more via social media. This development will make public relations work much more demanding.
The police online services department has been part of the Ministry of the Interior since 2013. This is where internal and external public relations work on the police intranet, the internet and social media channels is coordinated across the country.
One of the certainties of digitalization is: content is king. And the police have a lot of it. All 50 police authorities in North Rhine-Westphalia currently use social media. All authorities have a Facebook channel, almost all of them use Twitter. The first are already on Instagram. There are also central channels on YouTube, Xing and LinkedIn. WhatsApp is currently being tested to support applicants for the police profession who are in the application process. A Tiktok channel for the North Rhine-Westphalia police is also currently being tested. In total, the NRW police have over 120 social media channels.
How to recognize the real police on social media
Unfortunately, there are many offers on social media that look deceptively similar to genuine police offers. Press releases, images and emblems are used to give the impression that it is a police page. The NRW police are taking legal action against the operators of these pages.
A police website can be recognized by the following features:
- a uniform naming convention (NRW police and name/name abbreviation of the police authority),
- a uniform address convention
- Facebook: facebook.com/Polizei.NRW.Behördenkürzel
- Twitter @polizei_nrw_Behördenkürzel,
- usually certified by the platform provider (tick in blue circle),
- a police star with authority logo,
- Data for making contact outside the social network is provided.
General information on data protection
You can find information on the topic of "data protection" on the website of the competent supervisory authority for data protection in North Rhine-Westphalia, the State Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information of North Rhine-Westphalia. www.ldi.nrw.de
Data protection in the social media
Data protection in social media is important to the NRW police. You should therefore read the following data protection information before using the links to police services on social media.
By clicking on "Like" you become a fan of the police page, which is visible to the administrators of the page as well as to your friends and possibly other Facebook users. This applies in particular to "likes" or comments on our posts, which are also visible to non-registered visitors and non-fans of this fan page. Even if you are not or do not become a fan of this page, you can leave comments or "Like" information on our posts that are visible to others and the administrators of the fan page.
However, this information is neither analyzed by the administrators nor recorded elsewhere. The statistics that Facebook makes available to the administrators are output in aggregated form and do not allow the administrators to draw any conclusions about personal data.
In this context, please also note the data usage guidelines at https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/ and make the appropriate privacy settings in your account! Please check exactly what information you publish!
What Facebook learns:
What data Facebook stores in detail and how the company uses this data is not exactly known. What is certain is that Facebook not only stores data that is entered directly by users, but also records the actions of Facebook users.
Facebook also learns
- the most important data of the computer system from which a user logs into the network - including IP address, processor type and browser version including plug-ins and
- every visit to websites (widget data) on which a "Like" button is installed. The IP address is also transmitted. If the visitor to the third-party site is a Facebook user and has already logged in to Facebook from the same computer, Facebook can also determine their identity.
https://www.facebook.com/polizei.nrw.ac
https://www.facebook.com/polizei.nrw.bi
https://www.facebook.com/polizei.nrw.bo
https://www.facebook.com/polizei.nrw.bn
https://www.facebook.com/polizei.nrw.bor
https://www.facebook.com/polizei.nrw.coe
https://www.facebook.com/polizei.nrw.do
https://www.facebook.com/polizei.nrw.dn
https://www.facebook.com/polizei.nrw.d
https://www.facebook.com/polizei.nrw.du
https://www.facebook.com/polizei.nrw.en
https://www.facebook.com/polizei.nrw.e
https://www.facebook.com/polizei.nrw.eu
https://www.facebook.com/polizei.nrw.ge
https://www.facebook.com/polizei.nrw.gt
https://www.facebook.com/polizei.nrw.ha
https://www.facebook.com/polizei.nrw.ham
https://www.facebook.com/polizei.nrw.hs
https://www.facebook.com/polizei.nrw.hf
https://www.facebook.com/polizei.nrw.hsk
https://www.facebook.com/polizei.nrw.hx
https://www.facebook.com/polizei.nrw.kle
https://www.facebook.com/polizei.nrw.k
https://www.facebook.com/polizei.nrw.kr
https://www.facebook.com/Polizei.NRW.LIP
https://www.facebook.com/Polizei.NRW.mk
https://www.facebook.com/Polizei.NRW.me
https://www.facebook.com/Polizei.NRW.mi
https://www.facebook.com/polizei.nrw.mg
https://www.facebook.com/polizei.nrw.ms
https://www.facebook.com/polizei.nrw.gm
https://www.facebook.com/polizei.nrw.ob
https://www.facebook.com/polizei.nrw.oe
https://www.facebook.com/polizei.nrw.pb
https://www.facebook.com/polizei.nrw.re
https://www.facebook.com/polizei.nrw.rek
Police Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis
https://www.facebook.com/polizei.nrw.gl
https://www.facebook.com/polizei.nrw.ne
https://www.facebook.com/polizei.nrw.su
https://www.facebook.com/polizei.nrw.si
https://www.facebook.com/polizei.nrw.so
https://www.facebook.com/polizei.nrw.st
https://www.facebook.com/polizei.nrw.un
https://www.facebook.com/polizei.nrw.vie
https://www.facebook.com/polizei.nrw.waf
https://www.facebook.com/polizei.nrw.wes
https://www.facebook.com/polizei.nrw.w
https://www.facebook.com/polizei.nrw.karriere
https://www.facebook.com/polizei.nrw.lka
By clicking on "Follow", you will become a follower of the police account, which will be visible to the administrators of the page as well as to your friends and possibly other Twitter users.
This information is neither analyzed by the administrators of the police account nor recorded elsewhere. The statistics that Twitter makes available to the administrators of the police account are displayed in aggregated form and do not allow the administrators to draw any conclusions about personal data.
In this context, please also note the data usage guidelines at https://www.twitter.com/privacy/ and make the appropriate privacy settings in your account! Please check exactly what information you publish!
What Twitter learns:
What data Twitter stores in detail and how the company uses this data is not exactly known. What is certain is that Twitter not only stores data entered directly by users, but also records the actions of Twitter users - presumably without gaps - and passes them on to third parties.
Twitter also learns
- the most important data of the computer system (log data) from which a user logs into the network - including IP address, processor type and browser version, including plug-ins and
- every visit to websites (widget data) on which a Twitter button is installed. The IP address is also transmitted. If the visitor to the external site is a Twitter user and has already logged in to Twitter from the same computer, Twitter can also determine their identity
YouTube is a subsidiary of Google, therefore the Google privacy policy also applies: www.google.de
What is the data collected for?
- User authentication
- Targeted advertising
- Analysis and research of user behavior
- Disclosure to third parties: The user accounts of all Google services converge centrally. The data collected is automatically linked to other Google services. Anonymized data is passed on to advertising partners and other third parties, e.g. to visualize trends and statistics
All settings can be managed centrally in the Google Dashboard.
You can find the YouTube channel at the address: https://www.youtube.de/c/POLIZEINRW
