Crime in German shopping centers has risen sharply over the past year, with 75 percent of identified offenders having a migration background, according to a new internal report by the German Council of Shopping Places (GCSP).
The association, which represents around 90 percent of Germany’s shopping centers and large retail properties, warns that the situation has become significantly more acute over the past year and is continuing to deteriorate in 2025.
Across 1,105 surveyed retail properties, security staff documented 18,276 incidents in 2024, a 32 percent increase compared to 2023. Among the 13,339 categorized cases, violence and weapons were particularly notable: knives or tools were used or carried in 2,905 incidents, drug use jumped by 45 percent to 1,389 cases, and 235 people, including security personnel, employees, and visitors, were injured. Bomb threats rose to 46 and ATM explosions to 11, each up by roughly 50 percent.
There were also 945 cases of vandalism, 611 cases involving youth gangs and anti-social behavior; 458 incidents of threats against visitors; and 105 recorded cases of sexual harassment or rape. A further 4,937 disturbances, including intoxicated individuals, alarms, or violations of house rules, were logged but not categorized.
“It’s the groups that we see committing these types of offenses,” GCSP Secretary General Ingmar Behrens told WeltTV. “People who have time during the day, who are not in regular employment, who may have a tolerated-stay status, or are simply not working, and who come from a social environment that holds different values — values that are not shared by the people who shop or run businesses in the center.
“And within that environment, violence applies. The rule is: ‘I can get what I want by using a knife.’
And these rules clash with ours — the rules we have agreed on as a society,” he added.
Security costs for shopping centers rose by about 21 percent to €41 million. Stab-proof vests, once rarely used, are becoming increasingly common for guards. “If a tenant does less business and then has to pay higher service charges because security needs have increased, you eventually reach the point where they say, ‘I can’t operate my business in the city anymore. I’ll move online,'” Behrens warned.
According to the GCSP, the rise in aggression, the number of repeat offenders, and the high proportion of suspects with a migration background are cause for concern. More than 3,400 bans from premises were issued, yet repeat offending remains “consistently high” at 35 percent. The report also notes a rise in “professionally organized drug trafficking.”
Behrens emphasized that the overall statistical risk for visitors remains low given the millions who pass through shopping centers daily, but stressed that individual incidents erode public confidence. “Every single incident unsettles people,” he said, as cited by Welt. He added that many customers and employees are developing a lingering sense of fear.
Shopping center operators also warn of inconsistent prosecution, claiming that police often decline to pursue cases such as shoplifting or that complaints are not filed at all. Their concerns echo a recent report from the German Retail Federation (HDE), which estimated nationwide retail losses from theft at nearly €3 billion in 2024.
The HDE is urging lawmakers to restrict prosecutors’ ability to drop cases for efficiency reasons and to introduce tougher penalties for serious or organized theft. “It must be clear that shoplifting is not a trivial matter, but a crime often carried out with considerable criminal intent,” said HDE Managing Director Stefan Genth.
