The tasks of the Public Relations and Protocol Service are the following:

to coordinate and provide support for the public relations activities (PR) of the Federal Police; to manage and develop the website www.policefederale.be; to provide support for formal activities, mainly for the general commissioner and the general directors. The service’s activities aim to contribute to the development and the promotion of the Federal Police’s image and to make the Federal Police’s services and missions known among the population.

In order to promote the Federal Police’s image, the Public Relations and Protocol Service takes part in fairs, organises events and provides support for various events organised by the integrated police. The support it offers is varied: supplying of promotional material, mobilising of Federal Police specialised services (dog support, waterway police, cavalry, etc.), and/or active participation in events with a team of public relations staff members.

At local level, the service mainly helps police zones organise their open house or road safety days. These activities are an opportunity to promote the integrated character of the police. The Federal Police’s services that are located outside Brussels can also count on the Public Relations and Protocol Service’s support to organise their open house days. For example, in 2008, the service took part in the open house days of the Dog Support Unit (Neerhespen) and of the Air Support Unit (Melsbroek). The Press Service also regularly seeks the support of the Public Relations and Protocol Service to organise press conferences.

The Public Relations and Protocol Service also organises major PR events, like the “Police Village” on 21 July (in Brussels), that attract many visitors each year. The main advantage of such events is that they receive wide media coverage. As a result, they are a great opportunity to make the “less-known services” known to the public.

In addition to distributing promotional material during these events, the service is also responsible for the Federal Police’s “business gifts” and supervises their development and production. The service also coordinates the support provided by the Federal Police for activities organised by external partners (the “Ommegang” in Brussels) and for the making of movies. The service has coordinated, among other things, the Federal Police’s support for the following movies/series: “Mon Ange”, “Sur le mont Josaphat”, ”De Zaak Alzheimer”, “Vermist” (more recently), “Flikken”, “Thuis”, “Zone Stad”, “Witse”, and so on.

The Public Relations and Protocol Service’s web team is responsible for the website www.policefederale.be. It ensures its day-to-day management and manages its contact point. To do so, it directly answers questions asked by people through the website’s form or forwards them on to the competent service. The web team also provides support to the Federal Police’s entities that have no web site by offering them pages on the site or by developing specific application programmes (e.g. for the « missing persons » and « press » sections, etc.).

The service is also responsible for organising key formal activities such as international meetings, signing ceremonies of memorandums of understanding, receptions, etc. and runs a conference centre at the Witte de Haelen complex in Brussels. It makes sure the Federal Police’s senior officers are duly represented in all circumstances and in particular at official ceremonies.