They Should Have Been Cared For Before They Left: The Hidden Cost of Losing New Zealand Police Officers

By the Blue Hope Foundation. Lived experience. Real reform. Zero suicides within the New Zealand Police.

A Campaign That Misses the Point

New Zealand’s Police Commissioner is fronting a glossy recruitment campaign to bring our officers home from Australia — complete with a suitcase, a map, and a promise.

An Air Kiwinese aircraft departing from a New Zealand runway, police recruitment and the movement of skilled workers across the Tasman.

It makes for good television. But for those of us who support injured, traumatised, and grieving police families, the message lands differently.

Because they should have been cared for before they left — before they died by suicide, before they suffered catastrophic mental injury, before they reached breaking point.

The Real Cost of Neglect

When a police officer leaves — or worse, is lost to suicide — it isn’t just a personal tragedy. It’s a national loss.

Each police officer contributes about $1.5 million in combined economic and social value every year. That includes their salary and taxes, the economic activity they sustain, and the public-safety value of the crimes they prevent.➡️ Source: NZ Police Annual Report 2023/24; NZ Treasury – Cost of Crime (2003/04)

When we lose an officer, we lose a taxpayer, a trained professional, and a guardian of public trust. We lose institutional knowledge that no recruitment ad can replace.

We lose people we should have protected.

What We Tried to Do

Earlier this year — in January and again in March 2025 — the Blue Hope Foundation met with Police Commissioner Richard Chambers to discuss the urgent need for improved trauma and mental-injury support for our police.

Commissioner Chambers is a good man who has dedicated his career to policing. Our conversation reflected a shared concern for the growing toll of psychological injury within the police service.

We presented lived-experience insights and early-intervention models based on international best practice — practical steps that can strengthen resilience, retention, and recovery.

While systemic change takes time, those discussions reinforced our determination to keep working towards a future where mental-injury prevention is treated with the same seriousness as tactical readiness, and where every police officer has access to the care and dignity they deserve.

The Hope Ride: Bringing Families Together

Our upcoming Hope Ride brings police families together — to stand for the living, honour the lost, and build systems that protect those still serving.

Every kilometre represents an officer who should still be here. Someone who deserved early help, dignity, and care.

This isn’t a fundraiser. It’s a statement of unity, healing, and hope.

We invite the Police Commissioner and the Minister of Police to join us — not for a photo opportunity, but for genuine change.

Help us protect our officers before they reach breaking point, before families are left behind, before another officer feels there’s no choice but to walk away from the job they once loved.

Our Message

Look after them before they die.Look after them before they break.Look after them before they leave.

Because caring for our police isn’t a recruitment strategy —it’s a moral duty and an economic necessity.

About the Blue Hope Foundation

The Blue Hope Foundation is a lived-experience, volunteer-led organisation dedicated to ending police suicides in New Zealand. We provide early intervention, education, and advocacy for officers and families affected by PTSD and workplace trauma.

Learn more: www.bluehope.co.nz

References

• NZ Police Annual Report 2023/24 – Operating Expenditure $2.7 billion (police.govt.nz)

• NZ Treasury – Estimating the Costs of Crime in New Zealand (2003/04) and Fiscal Multipliers in New Zealand (treasury.govt.nz)→ Combined data show each officer contributes roughly NZ $1.5 million annually in economic and social value.