SHARE
COPY LINK

CRIME

BERLIN: Post-pandemic crime rate surges in the German capital

Crime in Berlin saw sharp increases in 2022 as most pandemic restrictions lifted. While some crime simply returned to pre-pandemic levels, youth crime in particular has gone up to a new high.

A crime scene cordoned off by German police.
A crime scene cordoned off by German police. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Christoph Reichwein

2022 was the year most Berlin residents moved on from the pandemic, left their homes more often, and got on with life the way it was before Covid-19 – and the capital’s criminals were no exception.

The pandemic years of 2020 and 2021 led to an increase in cybercrime, which then fell in 2022 as murders, theft, and violent attacks all went up again in Berlin.

The capital and country’s largest city saw almost 520,000 separate crimes last year, representing an almost eight percent increase since 2021, according to statistics from Berlin Police. The city saw 38 cases of murder and manslaughter in 2022 and a further 76 attempts – for a total of 114. That’s about 14 more than in 2021.

While some crimes in Berlin in 2022 remained at a fairly average rate when looking at the last ten years, there were some notable exceptions. Almost 214,000 cases of theft were reported in the city last year – marking an increase of about 20 percent.

That’s still below the ten-year high set in 2015, but theft from machines – including ATMs, vending machines, and even the coins from city toilets – went up 1700 percent in 2022 to over 10,000 cases.

READ ALSO: FACT CHECK: Is crime really on the rise in Germany?

Another worrying statistic concerns increases in both knife and youth crime. Knives were involved in over 3,300 crimes in Berlin in 2022, a 19 percent increase over the year before.

Police also recorded a little under 25,000 suspects in 2022 who were younger than 21 years of age. That represents a 20 percent increase over 2021, but also a new ten-year high for youth crime. That means that pandemic restrictions being lifted doesn’t by itself explain Berlin’s recent spike in youth crime.

Berlin Police say most other crimes are happening at roughly the same rates as in 2018 or 2019 – and not quite at the ten-year high seen in 2015.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

BREAKING

Several injured in ‘terrible’ knife attack in German city of Mannheim

A man wielding a knife attacked an anti-Islam campaigner and five other people in the southwestern German city of Mannheim on Friday before being shot by police, according to reports.

Several injured in 'terrible' knife attack in German city of Mannheim

The suspect was shot and injured by police after previously having attacked and injured several people with a knife.

One of the injured was a police officer, who according to reports in Bild was stabbed in the back and suffered severe injuries.

The police were initially unable to say how many people were hurt in the attack and how serious the injuries were, but later reports revealed that at least six people had suffered injuries.

A police spokeswoman said that there was no danger to the public.

Writing on X in the aftermath of the incident, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) condemned the “terrible” and “unacceptable” attack.

“The pictures coming out of Mannheim are terrible,” Scholz wrote. “My thoughts are with the victims. Violence is absolutely unacceptable in our democracy. The perpetrator must be severely punished.”

The motive for the attack is still unclear, but police say they are investigating whether the attack was politically motivated.

Videos obtained by Bild reportedly show the unidentified perpetrator attacking the right-wing populist politician Michael Stürzenberger, who was holding a campaign event in Mannheim.

Stürzenberger, who is a member of the Pax Europa campaign group against radical Islam, is known for his outspoken anti-Muslim views.

He was mentioned in a 2022 report by the Bavarian Office for the Protection of the Constitution as “the central figure in the Islamophobic scene in Bavaria that is relevant to the protection of the constitution”. 

The group said on its website that Stürzenberger and several Pax Europa volunteers were injured in a knife attack at the rally.

Stürzenberger suffered serious stab wounds to his face and also to his leg, while a police officer was also stabbed in the back and neck, the group said.

With EU election campaigns currently underway ahead of the vote on June 9th, there has been a sharp uptick in politically motivated attacks in recent weeks in Germany.

Matthias Ecke, a European parliament lawmaker for Scholz’s SPD party, was set upon this month by a group of youths as he put up election posters in the eastern city of Dresden.

Days later, former Berlin mayor Franziska Gifey was hit on the head and neck with a bag as she visited a library in Berlin.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said last week that he was worried by the growing trend and said Germans “must never get used to violence in the battle of political opinions”.

READ ALSO: Suspect held in latest attack on German politicians

With reporting by Imogen Goodman

SHOW COMMENTS