Berlin police register 952 clan-crime offenses in 2025, up 11 percent

Violent offenses, including assault and robbery, accounted for 23 percent of the registered crimes, while traffic offenses, including illegal car races, made up almost 16 percent and theft offenses another 16 percent. Property and forgery crimes, coercion, and narcotics trafficking were also among the listed categories.

The LKA has continued to apply a narrow police definition. A clan is described in the report as an informal social organization shaped by a shared understanding of descent, hierarchy, and group identity. The original German wording reads: "informelle soziale Organisation, die durch ein gemeinsames Abstammungsverständnis ihrer Angehörigen bestimmt ist. Sie zeichnet sich insbesondere durch eine hierarchische Struktur, ein ausgeprägtes Zugehörigkeitsgefühl und ein gemeinsames Normen- und Werteverständnis aus."

Police definition and criticism

Officials stress that membership of a clan is not treated as criminal in itself. In the report's own words, "die Zugehörigkeit zu einem Clan nicht mit Kriminalität gleichgesetzt" — clan-crime terminology is only applied, the police note, when clan structures are materially used to commit, facilitate, or obstruct investigation of crimes: "Erst wenn Clanstrukturen maßgeblich dazu genutzt werden, Kriminalität zu begehen, zu begünstigen oder die Tataufklärung zu verhindern, wird von Clankriminalität gesprochen."

The Berlin police leadership has identified several structural challenges in the report. It cites, in particular, "die zunehmende Durchdringung legaler Wirtschaftsbereiche, der Einsatz komplexer Firmenkonstrukte sowie die verstärkte Nutzung digitaler Kommunikations- und Finanzwege" — the growing penetration of legitimate business sectors, the use of complex corporate structures, and the increased exploitation of digital communication and financial channels.

Methods and priorities

Law enforcement is urged to focus more sharply on asset confiscation, and suspicious car-rental businesses have been a particular operational target during 2025 because their vehicles have allegedly been used in crimes and their books used to mask illegal employment and money laundering. The Berlin police also point to early intervention and prevention work as part of the response.

Among the 685 suspects attributed to the clan-crime milieu, German citizenship predominates, followed by Lebanese, officially "unclarified," Turkish, and Syrian citizens. Critics of the term, as the report itself notes, argue that "Menschen mit Migrationshintergrund allein aufgrund ihrer Familienzugehörigkeit und Herkunft stigmatisiert und diskriminiert würden," meaning that people with a migration background risk being stigmatized and discriminated against solely on the basis of family affiliation and origin.

Trends and operational context

Compared with 2023, when 1,063 cases and around 300 suspects were identified, the most recent figures point to a stabilization after several years of fluctuation. Targeted checks in the clan milieu fell to 74 in 2024 from 126 in 2023, a drop police attribute in part to the diversion of officers to major events such as pro-Palestinian demonstrations and the UEFA European Football Championship held in Germany.

The 2025 situation report nevertheless frames clan crime as a persistent feature of the Berlin security landscape, with offenses and suspect numbers both trending upward. Police say they will continue to combine preventive work, disruption of car-rental schemes, and pursuit of criminal assets, while acknowledging that the term itself remains contested in public debate.

The data was drawn from the LKA's current 2025 situation report and forms the basis for ongoing coordination between Berlin's police, the interior administration, and other authorities tasked with tackling organized crime in the capital.