The freedom of the press guaranteed in the German constitution is one of the outstanding features of a democratic constitutional state. It creates the conditions for the formation of will and opinion. For this reason, the state press law obliges authorities to provide representatives of the press with the information they need to fulfill their public duties.

Press relations

The press work of the Rhein-Kreis Neuss district police authority is based on the following objectives and standards, among others, in its daily media work:

• It fulfills 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 police's legal mandate 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 awareness or encourage cooperation.

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

Public relations

The task of public relations is to make police activities 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. The police in the Rhine district of Neuss provide regular information via the Facebook page (Polizei NRW Rhein-Kreis Neuss) and the Twitter channel (@polizei_nrw_rkn). Twitter is used on special occasions, such as major accidents or 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 to keep them informed about official developments.