Internal numbers from the Berlin Police have revealed that the force’s recruitment problems have gone beyond just not having enough applicants—now it’s about applicants who can’t meet even the most basic language standards, amid broader issues with mass immigration and slipping educational levels across Germany.
According to data from 2024 and 2025, nearly four out of ten applicants to the Berlin Police failed the mandatory German language examination. Of 10,874 candidates, 4,271 did not meet the required standard—a staggering 39.3% failure rate, Apollo News reports.
The figures are particularly alarming given the obviously critical role language plays in enforcing the long. Police officers must write precise reports, draft legal documents, and communicate clearly with citizens in high-pressure situations.
Even higher academic credentials offered little assurance of success. Among applicants holding a high school diploma, university entrance qualification, or completed degree, a shocking 30.1% still failed the German test.
In total, more than 1,800 academically credentialed candidates were unable to pass what is considered a basic language assessment. The alarming trend has directly impacted staffing plans across the Berlin Police Department.
Last year alone, some 25% of the 1,224 planned training positions went unfilled. In a city already grappling with rising crime and public safety concerns—both associated with the sustained mass migration into the country and city over the past decades—such shortfalls raise serious questions about long-term readiness.
It’s worth noting that the selection process itself isn’t particularly complex. Applicants complete a 200-word computer-based dictation exercise in which a text is read aloud in segments of five to eight words, with pauses in between.
Under internal guidelines, anyone who makes more than 14 errors fails. Practice materials are widely available online, yet the failure rate remains stubbornly high, revealing just how many individuals with migrant backgrounds are trying to become police officers in the German capital.