A B.C. judge has sentenced a former Nanaimo RCMP officer to 18 months’ probation for breach of trust after he slept with a “vulnerable” former sex worker he had met while on duty. Mark Tyler Hilland pleaded guilty to the charge and was sentenced this month in Nanaimo provincial court—where Judge Reginald Harris granted him a conditional discharge, meaning he will have no criminal record if he doesn’t violate any of the rules of his probation. In his decision, Harris acknowledged that maintaining the public’s trust is a “critical component” of policework, but found the severity of Hilland’s offence was at the “lower end,” and that he has already suffered significant consequences for his actions. “His conduct involved an impulsive act wherein he did not place anyone in physical danger, nor did he compromise any investigation or prosecution,” reads the judge’s Sept. 11 sentencing reasons, which were recently posted online. The court heard Hilland first met the 50-year-old Indigenous woman in summer 2023, and that they would have “casual, innocent” conversations as their paths crossed over the months that followed. She eventually invited him to visit her apartment after work, where they had sex. The court heard the woman reported him to the Nanaimo RCMP after learning he had a family. The officer’s actions “represent a serious and marked departure from the conduct demanded of him by the nature of his office” and are “inconsistent with the public good,” reads the agreed upon statement of facts in the case. But Harris noted Hilland ultimately resigned from the Nanaimo RCMP over the incident, which forced him and his wife to sell their home for a “more modest” one. The decision also acknowledged the “humiliation he has endured” due to his actions, as well as the rehabilitative steps he has taken since—which included going on medication and attending 41 sessions with a psychologist who diagnosed him with PTSD following the breach. The decision summarizes several letters that were submitted attesting to Hilland’s “good character,” describing him as an “attentive, caring and supportive” parent and someone who was “honest, fair and non-assuming” in his former policework. While the Crown recommended Hilland carry a criminal record—arguing a conditional discharge would not achieve the degree of denunciation and deterrence warranted given the damage his actions caused to the public trust—the judge disagreed. “A criminal record will significantly limit his employment prospects,” Harris said. “He has pled guilty, and a criminal record is not necessary to deter him.” News reporting on Hilland’s case, which was announced by the B.C. Prosecution Service last year, is also “a mechanism through which a degree of deterrence is achieved,” the judge found.
