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Berlin Police Report 39% of Applicants Failing German Test, Exposing Recruiting Strain

Authorities tie the high failure rate to weak language skills, with outcomes varying sharply by education level.

Overview

  • An official reply to an AfD inquiry shows 4,271 of 10,874 applicants in 2024–2025 failed the required written German assessment.
  • The selection includes computer-based tasks plus a dictation and a grammar test, which officials say account for most early eliminations.
  • Failure rates differ by schooling: university graduates 14%, Abitur/Fachhochschulreife 31%, Mittlerer Schulabschluss 47%, and eBBr 69%.
  • Police President Barbara Slowik Meisel called language competence a substantial problem and said about 80% of early failures stem from poor German skills.
  • The Senat reports no significant pass/fail difference by migration background, offers German support during training, and notes that only 936 of 1,224 training places were filled last year with no pre-entry language courses provided.