PTSD in Police in New Zealand: The Hidden Epidemic of Moral Injury

Published by The Blue Hope Foundation June 2025

PTSD in police in New Zealand is not just a mental health concern—it’s a structural crisis. At The Blue Hope Foundation, we work alongside mentally injured police workers and their families to expose and address this invisible epidemic.

Through our frontline initiative, the Ima Project, we partner with mothers, sisters, and partners of serving and former officers—the people who often notice the first signs of psychological trauma. Many of the cases we see are not caused by a single event, but by a pattern of institutional harm: what experts call moral injury.

Understanding Moral Injury in New Zealand Police

Moral injury occurs when police officers are placed in situations that violate their ethical beliefs, such as being forced to enforce harmful decisions, denied access to proper support, or punished for speaking out. Unlike typical workplace stress, moral injury is cumulative and corrosive. Over time, it leads to anxiety, shame, emotional withdrawal, and often, diagnosable post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

In New Zealand, many frontline police workers develop PTSD not simply from what they see, but from the betrayal they feel by the very institutions meant to protect them.

How PTSD in Police in New Zealand Manifests

PTSD in New Zealand Police often includes:

• Flashbacks, nightmares, and sleep disorders

• Emotional numbness, irritability, or rage

• Chronic fatigue and inflammatory illness

• Loss of trust in leadership and the system

• Suicidal thoughts, social withdrawal, and relationship breakdowns

At The Foundation, we hear from officers who have been ignored, stigmatised, or retraumatised by reassessments under ACC cover provided by the police’s third-party provider. These processes frequently breach privacy, delay treatment, and inflict further harm.

Why the System Is Failing Mentally Injured Police

The APEX report, The Invisible Workplace Epidemic of Moral Injury, underscores what we’ve known all along: PTSD in police is not just an individual problem—it’s the outcome of a dysfunctional, under-resourced, and bureaucratic system.

Officers are:

• Denied access to timely psychological care

• Punished for raising safety concerns

• Forced to choose between their health and their career

• Treated as liabilities instead of human beings

This is how moral injury develops—slowly, silently, and relentlessly. It is not a character flaw. It is a workplace injury caused by a system failure.

The Blue Hope Foundation’s Mission for Police PTSD Reform

Our vision is simple: zero suicides within the New Zealand Police. Achieving this requires more than awareness. It demands legal accountability, system reform, and public recognition that PTSD in police is a serious, disabling injury under both New Zealand law and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).

We call for:

1. Enforcement of the Code of ACC Claimants’ Rights

2. Immediate access to trauma-informed psychological support

3. A stop to repeated reassessments that retraumatise injured officers

4. Clinical autonomy and protection for police clinicians and families who speak out

5. Formal recognition of PTSD as a disabling, compensable injury

The Foundation assists police workers and their families through advocacy, legal support, and strategic reform. We use our lived experience to guide others through the ACC claims process, and we partner with lawyers to challenge illegal and unethical decision-making by government agencies and contracted providers.

Help Us End the PTSD Crisis in New Zealand Police

The Blue Hope Foundation is proud to stand with police officers, families, and whistleblowers. We make moral injury visible, and we hold the system to account.

👉 Learn more or get in touch at www.bluehope.co.nz

👉 Visit us at www.bluehope.co.nz to learn more or get involved.