Berlin police will get more new staff than planned

The Berlin police is to receive even more new personnel in the near future than previously planned. This was announced by the new Senator for the Interior Iris Spranger (SPD) on Monday (Feb. 7, 2022) in the Interior Committee.

No concrete figures yet

Spranger said that the police could hire more people than planned in the draft budget, but she could not yet give concrete figures because of the ongoing negotiations. Previously, it was planned that there would be 18,900 police officers by 2024, which would be several hundred more than at present. By 2030, there should be 20,000 Berlin police officers.

Bicycle squads to be expanded

The bicycle squads are also to be expanded from around 50 to 100 police officers on bikes within the S-Bahn ring and also in the outer districts, Spranger said when presenting the plans for the next few years, which had already been agreed in the coalition agreement. The number of bodycams on police uniforms is to be increased from 30 to 300 in the current trial.

Bicycle theft clearance rate to improve

In addition, Spranger listed the announced police station at Kottbusser Tor in Kreuzberg, video surveillance in places with a lot of crime, the further renovation and new construction of shooting ranges, and the modern and joint operations control center for the police and fire department. On the subject of bicycle thefts, Spranger stressed that more needs to be done here as well: "Unfortunately, the clearance rate is not yet what we would like it to be."