In this way, the freedom of the press guaranteed in the Basic Law creates the conditions for the formation of will and opinion. Therefore, according to the state press law, the authorities are obliged to provide representatives of the press with the information they need to fulfill their public duties.

Press

The press work of the Herford police is based on the following goals and standards, among others, with its daily media work:

• It fulfils its obligation to provide information in accordance with Section 4 of the NRW State Press Act and creates the basis for objective reporting in the media.
• It clarifies the legal mandate of the police to the public.
• It conveys an objective image of the police to the public.
• It informs the public on specific occasions in order to raise their awareness or encourage them to get involved.

Press relations as a special form of public relations includes the provision or transmission of news and assessments about events or developments in police work to the media. Press work also includes the evaluation and compilation of media publications as well as the supervision of media productions.

Public Relations

Public relations work is about making police actions transparent and understandable.
This is done in a variety of ways, for example via the website or by providing information materials such as brochures, flyers and posters, but also by organizing public events. An important part of today's public relations work is social media. Here, the Herford police provide regular information about the Facebook page (Polizei NRW Herford) and the Twitter channel (@polizei_nrw_hf). Twitter is used on special occasions, such as demonstrations, to inform the public about events with short tweets.

In addition to outward-facing public relations work, the department is also responsible for ensuring internal police communication. This is done, for example, via the internal police intranet, which is available to all police employees of the district police authority to keep them informed about official developments.