High levels of these "unacceptable behaviours" have continued across the force due to failures of culture and leadership, a wide-ranging review revealed on Thursday.
The review of thousands of current and former employees found 30 per cent had directly experienced bullying in the past five years, leaving them feeling "scared, belittled or humiliated".
One anonymous respondent said bullying was as much a part of NSW Police as wearing a uniform.
Additionally, almost one in 10 respondents said they had experienced sexual harassment in the past five years - with one per cent reporting having been sexually assaulted during the same period.
Every woman who spoke to the review described experiencing either overt or covert sexual harassment, undermining, and belittlement at some time during their service.
NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon accepted all 29 recommendations made by the review, saying he was committed to ensuring NSW Police was a safe and inclusive workforce.
"Behaviours such as bullying, discrimination, and harassment ... are unacceptable and will not be tolerated," Mr Lanyon told reporters on Thursday.
The review was commissioned in 2024 by then NSW Police commissioner Karen Webb following reports of a toxic culture across the police force and was led by former Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commissioner Kristen Hilton.
More than 5000 current and former staff engaged with the review, either through face-to-face interviews, online surveys, written submissions or group discussions.
"Based on this data, it is clear that bullying, incivility, discrimination and victimisation are occurring at unacceptable levels within NSWPF and present systemic risk," Ms Hilton said in the review.
Officers' initial enthusiasm for the role was often beaten down by stress, disrespect, fatigue, inequity and trauma.
Fewer than 60 per cent of police officers said they felt proud and safe wearing their uniforms in public, according to one survey.
Ms Hilton stressed the importance of top-down culture in organisations like NSW Police to establish "what gets tolerated, what gets rewarded, and what gets ignored".
"We saw how culture shapes how people behave, how decisions are made, how teams hold together under pressure and what's valued," Ms Hilton told reporters.
One of the issues identified by the review was that those in leadership roles were the most common perpetrators of unsafe behaviours.
Many respondents feared that speaking up against bullying would result in them being ostracised or denied promotions, with most instead choosing to avoid the perpetrator or leave the organisation.
"It's not easy, as a more junior member, to speak out against misconduct when you fear retaliation or career consequences," Ms Hilton said.
Another anonymous respondent described speaking up as "career suicide".
Favouritism and bias among senior leaders were identified as a major source of concern for many in the ranks, with promotions perceived as being based on factions, networks and friendships rather than merit or talent.
"If you are not part of the group, or a 'yes man', then your capability, drive, performance means nothing," an anonymous interviewee said.
Discrimination in the force was identified by 25 per cent of police officers who participated in the review.
It was found to disproportionately affect women, First Nations staff, people with disabilities, LGBTQI+ employees and those for whom English is a second language.
Forms of discrimination included being denied development opportunities or being assigned to different duties despite holding the same position as colleagues.
"I want people to be able to come to work and feel safe and supported," Mr Lanyon said.
"That's why I'm firmly committed to implementing the recommendations.
"The types of things that I read in that report are simply unacceptable."
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