By Axel Lier
The Berlin police have young people to worry about. Not only the number of applicants has decreased rapidly in the past five years. The quality of those interested has also declined – both athletically and intellectually. In addition, there is an acute housing shortage in the capital.
on tik tok, Instagramat job fairs and in the streets, the Berlin police do it every day Advertising for her important job – but the number of applicants is declining. This emerges from a response from the Senate Interior Administration to a request from SPD MP Tino Schopf.
► In 2018, 8,426 people registered for the middle service with the police. Five years later there were only 6016. The number of senior civil servants also fell from 2443 to 1553 in the same period.
► When “self-check“-Test of the police, which can be completed in a private environment, there were still 8192 interested parties in 2018. Last year there were only 6987.
► Five years ago, there were still 3,424 applicants in the subsequent PC test directly in Keibelstraße at the police station, last year there were almost 600 fewer.
► 2631 applicants completed the sports test in 2018. The low point came in 2020: just under 2000 were only fit enough – then the requirements were changed. Last year, 2718 people were able to continue.
► In the police medical examination in 2018, exactly 178 applicants were declared unfit. Five years later there were 190.
► It looks worse in personal interviews: 65 applicants were sorted out here in 2018. Last year there were almost five times as many – 324! The reasons according to the Senate administration: “lack of communication skills” and “lack of professional motivation”.
In order to attract good applicants – also from outside of Berlin – there is often a lack of living space. The head of housing care at the police academy has therefore launched a call for help via email to all 25,000 employees. Under the heading “Help!! Can you recommend your landlord?” she asks: “Perhaps you can get in touch with your landlord to see if he would be willing to rent apartments to junior police officers?”