Berlin’s latest crime statistics show overall offenses falling—but several of the most serious crimes, including sexual violence, homicides, and firearms offenses, rose sharply.
The figures also show that non-German suspects accounted for 43.3% of those identified by police, while foreigners make up 22.5% of the city’s population.
According to data presented Wednesday by Berlin’s Interior Senator Iris Spranger (SPD), total recorded crime declined by 6.7%, from 539,049 cases in 2024 to 502,743 in 2025.
Despite the overall drop, several violent offenses increased significantly.
Sexual crimes rose by 15.7%, from 7,475 cases in 2024 to 8,652 in 2025. Of the 5,958 cases solved by police, foreigners accounted for 36.9% of suspects.
Homicides also increased, climbing from 117 to 165 cases—a 41% rise. However, authorities note that 79 of those deaths were linked to a single alleged murder series involving a palliative care doctor accused of killing seriously ill patients. In total, police identified 89 suspects in murder and manslaughter investigations last year, of whom 54—60.7%—were non-German citizens.
Weapons offenses recorded some of the sharpest increases. Firearms-related crimes rose from 666 cases in 2024 to 1,119 in 2025, an increase of 68%. Among the 553 suspects investigated for threatening or firing a weapon, 39.6% were foreigners.
Knife-related offenses also edged upward. Police recorded 3,599 such incidents in 2025, compared with 3,412 the previous year, an increase of 5.5%. Of the 1,906 suspects identified, 56.4% did not hold German citizenship.
Some categories declined slightly. Robbery fell from 5,121 to 4,823 cases, while bodily injury dropped by 1.6%, from 50,638 to 49,830. Foreign nationals accounted for 55% of robbery suspects and 44.1% of those accused of bodily injury.
Home burglaries, however, rose sharply, climbing from 8,529 cases in 2024 to 10,618 in 2025—an increase of 24.5%. Three-quarters of suspects in these cases were non-German nationals, and more than half had no registered residence in Germany.
Police officers also continued to face high levels of violence on duty. In 2025, 9,819 officers became victims of crime, down from 10,584 the previous year but still the second-highest figure recorded since 2016. Violence against firefighters and other emergency workers also declined, falling from 326 incidents to 273.
Theft offenses fell by 9.2%, dropping from 223,586 cases in 2024 to 203,061 in 2025.
Spranger praised the police for the overall reduction in crime, pointing in particular to the city’s knife-ban zones at Kottbusser Tor, Görlitzer Park, and Leopoldplatz, where knife attacks have reportedly fallen between 25% and 45%. She said authorities would continue efforts to ensure residents and visitors feel safe in everyday life.
Opposition politicians sharply disputed the government’s interpretation of the figures. Thorsten Weiß, interior policy spokesman for the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) in Berlin’s parliament, argued that the fall in overall crime masks rising violence in several serious categories. He also pointed to the high proportion of suspects without German citizenship.
Separate data also show a rise in politically motivated violence. According to preliminary figures from the Berlin Senate, violent crimes attributed to left-wing extremists increased from 123 incidents in 2024 to 220 in 2025. In total, authorities recorded 872 politically motivated crimes linked to left-wing extremism, including arson attacks on vehicles and attacks on public and private property—adding to concerns about rising political violence in the German capital.
