Berlin police are struggling to find enough German-speaking recruits amid surge in migrant applications
Berlin police say they are struggling to fill entry-level roles while maintaining German-language standards, as many applicants fail required assessments. The issue matters because officers must be able to explain and document police actions clearly, and the force has vacancies despite a large applicant pool.
Police president Barbara Slowik Meisel said 40% of applicants failed the German test, and roughly 300 of 1,200 entry-level posts have remained vacant since 2025. More than half of the 240 cadets who began training in spring 2025 needed extra German tuition; Berlin’s force has Germany’s highest share of officers with migrant backgrounds, at 37%. The article also notes that asylum applications and recorded illegal entries into Germany fell sharply in 2025, though the reasons for the decline are disputed.
- Berlin police cannot fill posts without lowering language standards.
- Forty per cent of applicants fail German-language assessments.
- Around a quarter of entry-level positions remain unfilled.
Both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Maintaining rigorous German-language requirements is a matter of public safety, due process and equal treatment. Officers must understand fast-moving situations, communicate people’s rights clearly and produce precise records that may later be tested in court; lowering the threshold could harm both the public and recruits themselves. Advocates of this view argue that a diverse force is valuable, but competence in the working language is an essential professional requirement rather than an exclusionary preference.
The case against
Critics of the current approach argue that Berlin should not treat language testing as a fixed barrier when it faces persistent vacancies and has many motivated applicants from multilingual communities. A police force that reflects the city’s population may build trust, communicate more effectively with residents and broaden its pool of talent, while intensive language training can raise recruits to the necessary standard during preparation. They argue for flexible, well-resourced pathways into policing rather than assuming that weaker initial German necessarily means someone cannot become an effective officer.