The Police has outlined that a time of restraint related to the parliamentary elections also applies to certain Police social media accounts if the account holder stands for the Parliament.
Several candidates are, in fact, employed by the Police. However, when involved in their campaign work, they do not represent the Police and must not use, when campaigning, the official Police equipment and tools, such as the phone, Police e-mail account or an official Police social media account.
The Police social media accounts are intended for official purposes only, and if the network administrator is a candidate, the account closes as of the January 1 and will remain so until the election is over. During the period, the candidate will not update the account and, naturally, will not make any reference to their campaigning there. The use of these official accounts is limited to official purposes only.
The Police wants to ensure that the social media accounts used by the Police for official purposes will not be used for political publicity, not even by reference. The Police has informed the staff internally on the question. Each Police staff member has the freedom of speech, and the instructions are there to draw the lines between policing work and the campaigning that takes place during leisure.
The candidates’ private social media accounts, or campaigning accounts, do not represent the Police authority.
