Increasing number of police operations in Berlin hospitals

Berlin – Thefts, insults, property damage – and even violence: Officers responded to more than 14,000 incidents at Berlin's approximately 60 hospitals last year. This is according to police data reported by the "Tagesspiegel" (Saturday edition). The previous year, the number was 12,300. In 2024, more than 640 assaults, almost 290 cases of trespassing, and nearly 260 incidents of coercion, false imprisonment, or threats were recorded at the hospitals. It is striking that the Neukölln Hospital is missing from the list of registered cases compiled by the police headquarters. Police officers, and occasionally special forces, are regularly deployed to this Vivantes hospital. The total number of operations across Berlin is likely even higher than stated above. Among the hospitals otherwise listed, the following five were most affected in 2024: Charité-Virchow-Campus in Wedding with 1,233 operations, Vivantes-Klinikum in Friedrichshain with 909 operations, Evangelisches Krankenhaus Herzberge in Lichtenberg with 893 operations, Vivantes-Auguste-Viktoria-Klinikum in Schöneberg with 768 operations, and Vivantes-Urban-Klinikum in Kreuzberg with 752 operations. These hospitals treat a particularly large number of patients and also have large emergency rooms. An estimated 90,000 cases are treated annually at the Charité-Virchow emergency room, and the state-owned Vivantes clinics treat a similar number of emergencies. Lichtenberg's Herzberge Hospital, in turn, is known for its large psychiatric department.