A Facebook page set up to support mentally ill police officers and their families has been shut down after the NSW Police service complained about "highly offensive" posts.

Key points: Facebook deemed certain posts breached its "bullying" code

Facebook deemed certain posts breached its "bullying" code Page administrator denies posts were offensive

Page administrator denies posts were offensive NSW Police said it reported "detrimental" comments directed at serving officers

Facebook has confirmed that it shut down the Forgotten 300 page, which had almost 55,000 followers worldwide, after NSW police made a formal complaint to the social networking site.

The page administrator Berrick Boland said the portal was a "lifeline" for many serving and former officers who had suffered mental health problems on the job, including depression, anxiety and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Mr Boland, a former detective, has started a petition on Change.Org demanding that Facebook restore the page.

"It's a lifeline for a lot of guys and women who are in the psychiatric wards or hospitals around Australia," he said.

"A lot of them have contacted me over the years saying that this is one of the best things they've done because they can relate to people and when they're in wards, on the laptops and phones, they can still participate."

Mr Boland said while some posts on the Facebook page were critical of some senior serving police officers, he denied they were offensive.

"They weren't offensive in language. All they were was truthful posts about certain current senior officers. It can be the only reason I can think of that they would want it removed, because it's highly embarrassing for the police force."

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Mr Boland said he was shocked that police had been able to get the entire page taken down.

"In any other instance you get a warning or they would remove one or two posts."

The ABC understands when Facebook reviewed the history of the page, it determined that a series of posts about one senior officer, in particular, reached its threshold for "bullying".

Forgotten 300 provided 'comfort' for families

The removal of the page has sparked outrage among its members, including Janet Hill, whose son, Constable Morgan Hill, took his own life in 2009.

Janet Hill turned to the Facebook support group after the death of her son. ( ABC News )

Morgan Hill was in his fifth year of policing, at Waverley Police Station, in Sydney's eastern suburbs, when he developed PTSD.

In March 2009, he drove to an isolated spot and took his own life.

Ms Hill said she struggled to come to terms with her son's death but took some comfort from the support she received through the Forgotten 300 Facebook page.

"My son died. He's dead. I see these other officers that are serving or they are ex-police that are struggling to survive," she said.

"I see that they had a place to meet and actually say 'This has happened to me', and get support from many people including myself. I've actually been able to offer some support to other officers."

Ms Hill said she was "gobsmacked" when the page was removed.

"This is a police force that is out of control. I feel like people like me, and like these officers, are being silenced," she said.

"The thing about that page, the Forgotten 300, was that they had a voice and they were in a community of people that understood what it was like to be experiencing life as they do, which is with great devastation."

In a statement to the ABC, a spokesman for the NSW Police said: "The NSW Police Force did contact Facebook regarding concerns over numerous posts considered highly offensive and detrimental to the wellbeing of particular serving officers."

"Facebook reviewed those posts and has taken action in line with their terms and conditions."

Facebook Australia told the ABC in a statement:

"Our Community Standards outline what content can and cannot be shared on Facebook. We remove all content that is reported to us that violates our Community Standards, and provide the person who posted it with a notice explaining why we removed the content in question. For example, our Community Standards explain that people are able to speak freely and critically on matters of public interest but we will remove content that appears to purposefully target private individuals with the intention of degrading or shaming them."

Mr Boland said he had started another page to support psychologically injured emergency service workers, called the Forgotten 000's.