Polizeiliche Öffentlichkeitsarbeit in sozialen Netzwerken

The publicity work conducted by the police on social networks is an omnipresent topic. Even though the police have engaged in publicity work for decades, their transference of it to social media has given it a new lease of life. However, legal problems in the fields of data protection law, constitutional law and administrative law are connected to this change of medium, which are analysed in depth in this study, with the result that it conducts a comprehensive analysis of the issue’s legal framework.
The study provides especially clear guidelines, which the police need to comply with during their communication processes on social media. Although they have transferred their publicity work onto social networks, the police have not dispensed with the established principles of their public relations work, even if the quite informal form of communication and the expectations of social media users may tempt them into abandoning those previous standards.