A long-serving police officer from St. Thomas has been found guilty of professional misconduct after repeatedly sending emails to the city’s police board and harassing the deputy chief, according to a ruling by an adjudicator.
Constable Helaine Hindley faced two counts of professional misconduct – failure to follow procedures set by the chief and harassment – related to incidents that took place between June 2023 and July 2025.
Hindley was part of the criminal investigations unit, working on child exploitation cases until she went on medical leave in 2021 due to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and subsequently filed a complaint with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario against her department a year later.
The details surrounding the allegations against Hindley were presented during a six-day hearing where she represented herself without testifying or calling witnesses.
Adjudicator Colin Osterberg determined that Hindley had committed two counts of professional misconduct under the Community Safety and Policing Act, which governs policing in Ontario.
The first count involved numerous emails and correspondence sent by Hindley to Chief Mark Roskamp, Deputy Chief Steve Bogart, police board chair Dan Reith, and St. Thomas Police Association president Paul Tunks from February through July 2025.
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These emails discussed Hindley’s mental health, her experiences at work, and how her Human Rights Tribunal complaint was being handled by the force.
However, all complaints or communications directed at the police board are supposed to go through the chief. Roskamp had also issued an order requiring Hindley to route any correspondence intended for senior officers via the St. Thomas Police Association rather than contacting them directly.
“While Cst. Hindley’s emails were part of her ongoing advocacy and related to her (human rights) complaint, the regulation does not allow for exceptions in those circumstances,” Osterberg stated in his 30-page decision.
“Regardless of her intent or the content being tied to protected disclosures, Cst. Hindley’s direct outreach to the board members violated the prescribed communication protocol.”
Osterberg noted that it was outside his authority to make judgments about anyone facing allegations related to the human rights complaint, which is still pending.
“If Cst. Hindley has concerns regarding others’ conduct, then she is free to address those concerns using proper procedures for doing so,” he wrote.
The harassment charge pertains to two emails sent by Hindley concerning a welfare check.
On February 6, 2025, St. Thomas police responded to a hardware store after finding Hindley visibly upset and unresponsive inside. Her husband, who was an acting sergeant at that time with St. Thomas police, came over when she didn’t respond to officers or paramedics present at the scene.
After learning about this situation, Roskamp requested that OPP perform a welfare check on Hindley to confirm that she wasn’t posing any risk either to herself or others.
That same day, Hindley emailed Roskamp, Bogart, and Tunks questioning why they conducted such a welfare check. She believed Bogart had initiated it due to motives rooted in control and ego while showing complete disregard for compassion.
Bogart testified during the hearing about his worries regarding how these allegations could impact his career prospects as well as his reputation and family life.
On April 7, 2025-after receiving no reply from previous communications-Hindley sent another email addressed again towards Roskamp, Tunks, and Reith accusing Bogart’s actions of potentially being criminal harassment aimed at intimidating her while aggravating her PTSD symptoms.
Hindley warned that if she didn’t receive satisfactory responses concerning her questions about this welfare check situation; she might resort back into filing another human rights complaint or pursue legal action including criminal charges against them.
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