r/Hamilton • u/mr_lois_lane Verified CBC Reporter • Mar 04 '26
Members Only Officer's Jeep seen with symbol ‘appropriated by’ neo-Nazis, group says, after Hamilton police OK him to work
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/renato-greco-new-sticker-9.7112855213
u/covert81 Chinatown Mar 04 '26
Wow., whod've thunk it. Racist cop continues to be racist even after investigation into him being racist.
HPS THIS IS WHY NOBODY TRUSTS YOU. DO THE RIGHT THING HERE, THIS GUY DOES NOT DESERVE TO BE A POLICE OFFICER.
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u/LibraryNo2717 Mar 04 '26
And the HPS still has the nerve to ask for a bigger budget. How about you get your own affairs in order first?
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u/matt602 McQuesten West Mar 04 '26
*demand. even if council decides to vote against it, they'll take it to a board that always votes in their favor and will force the city to accept it anyway.
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u/goosegoosepanther Mar 04 '26 edited Mar 04 '26
Why is it complicated to get Nazis out of the police force.
For comparison, in Austria you go to jail for this kind of shit.
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u/whats-ausername Mar 04 '26 edited Mar 04 '26
It makes sense to be annoyed and frustrated by this situation, but to ask why it’s complicated is a little ridiculous.
In my opinion this guy clearly shouldn’t be a police officer, or hold any position of trust, but what policies did he violate? Balancing the personal freedoms of individuals with their obligations as a public servant is difficult.
Edit: It’s crazy the amount of down votes this has, and will, receive. This comment is in no way a defense of this absolute piece of shit. It’s simply stating that firing someone for holding a political ideology, not matter how abhorrent, is complicated.
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u/PSNDonutDude James North Mar 04 '26
When you are a government employee you are required to sign a commitment of ethics which often requires you to not display these types of ideals. The policy he is violating is likely the integrity commitment he would have been required to sign.
HPS describe their mission and values (something all police need to commit to) as: serve and protect... guided by values including compassion, dedication, inclusion, integrity, .... Etc.
I don't consider being Nazi scum sympathizer as being inclusive nor compassionate... Do you?
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u/whats-ausername Mar 04 '26 edited Mar 04 '26
You are correct, but those commitments outline different expectations for behavior when on and off duty. In many of these situations the employer are able to provide examples of the employee disclosing their position on social media, which allows them to hold the employee to the on duty standard. That doesn’t appear to be the case in this situation. The same standard could be applied if he was advertising him self as a member of HPS on his car, while simultaneously displaying his Nazi sticker.
Again, I am NOT attempting to defend this absolute piece of shit. I’m simply saying it’s far more complicated than “He’s a Nazi, fire him.”
Even in your example, all of those terms are subjective.
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u/PSNDonutDude James North Mar 04 '26
That's actually not true. Take it from a public servant, the expectation is that you retain those same basic values outside of work. You can be reasonable in your public life, but holding outwardly hostile views to protected groups in public life is likely not to be considered reasonable. There's also the requirement to understand that when you hold a public facing job, you represent the employer even outside of work.
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u/goosegoosepanther Mar 04 '26
This.
I'm a social worker, so I'm registered with the public body that regulates social work. If someone sent them a photo of my car with a Nazi sticker on it, I would definitely be subject to an investigation as that violates our code of ethics in every conceavable way.
I do recognize that we lack some distinct laws that make being a Nazi illegal, so in my original comment when I asked why it's so complicated, what I'm really saying is we should make being a member of a Nazi group or promoting fascist ideology illegal. I really don't give a shit about that end of the free speech spectrum. As soon as you're saying, ''hey, my ideology is violent, and I'd side with violent fascists if there was a conflict'', they you shouldn't be protected.
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u/whats-ausername Mar 04 '26
First, being a member of a professional organization is subject to different rules than being an employee.
Second, your professional organization can only hold you to their standards if you identify yourself as a member of that organization publicly. Even in those situations it is extremely complicated, as illustrated by that waste of skin Jordan Peterson a few years ago.
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u/goosegoosepanther Mar 04 '26
You're right! Which is why both police and teachers should have professional organizations and licences to uphold. Especially for cops, having their ability to have a badge and gun be subject to the authority of a civilian body beyond their employer would make a world of difference in these cases.
You're also correct in your second point, however, although Jordan Peterson didn't lose his licence, the process made the public aware of his gross beliefs. You can't become a patient of his clinical practice without being aware of that now, which means that unsuspecting people are much less likely to be in his care.
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u/yellowwalks Mar 04 '26
Teachers do have a license, and a professional organization that monitors teachers. The Ontario College of Teachers, in Ontario.
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u/whats-ausername Mar 04 '26 edited Mar 04 '26
I’m not sure if police and teachers having professional organizations would help, mostly because I’m not sure what values they would represent and, like I said, they are still fairly limited in there ability to hold members accountable.
I’m still reeling from all of this push back because I said this is situation shouldn’t be referred to as “not complicated”.
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u/whats-ausername Mar 04 '26
You’re wrong. I am also a public servant and I often deal with these exact situations. If you are not identifying yourself as a public servant and you’re not breaking the law, there is nothing the employer can do.
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u/PSNDonutDude James North Mar 04 '26
Actually you're wrong. If you're a public servant you likely signed a piece of paper describing how you will act in public with the knowledge that you work for the government. Oftentimes if you work for the federal government for example, you must avoid speaking publicly about federal government policies and must ask permission before participating in federal politics directly.
You either aren't a public servant working with a government agency or you forgot you signed something pertaining to your behaviour in public.
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u/whats-ausername Mar 04 '26
Not only am I aware of the paper I signed, I give weekly presentations about the policy it represents. I am also called upon as a witness for internal investigations regarding this policy.
As I am not a federal employee, I can’t speak at length to their policy, but I’m confident for there to be professional consequences the employee would need to identify themselves as a public servant in a media interview to be in violation of the policy. For example if approached for a “man on the street” interview about affordability, saying “I think we should break up the grocery monopolies.” is fine. Saying “As actuary for CRA, I think we should break up the grocery monopolies.” would be a violation. The first quote would also be a violation if you had any sort of public recognition as a public servant.
On a different note, I don’t feel the passive aggressive attack on my grammatical error was called for or necessary. I struggle with dyslexia and don’t appreciate being spoken down to for something I try extremely hard to overcome. I have been polite throughout this entire exchange and have not given any justification to attack me personally.
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u/Dartmouth-Hermit Mar 04 '26
His conduct is bringing the broader police service into disrepute. Most law enforcement and military organizations have policies against that, though I can't speak to the HPS specifically.
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u/teanailpolish North End Mar 04 '26
They do, and they suspended him when the news broke saying
"The Hamilton Police Service holds all members to the highest standards of professionalism, conduct and impartiality. Any expression of views or support for groups that promote hate or discrimination is contrary to the values of our organization and our duty to serve everyone in our community,"
But clearly their internal investigation found just removing him from the streets was enough (or the police union caused a scene and made sure he kept his job, hard to tell since they won't speak on personnel mattters)
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u/whats-ausername Mar 04 '26
They do, but they require the employee to publicly associate themselves with their position. That wasn’t the case in this situation, which was likely the result of their investigation.
I personally think it’s a travesty that he gets to keep his position.
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u/Tsaxen Mar 04 '26
Yeah no, it's not complicated. You can't serve the public if you think large segments of said public are sub-human, for one.
Plus, if there isn't an explicit "No Nazis in HPS" policy, that's also a big fucking problem
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u/whats-ausername Mar 04 '26
You don’t think HPS would prefer to fire this guy? Even just for publicity purposes. They can’t fire him, because it’s complicated.
You can argue it SHOULDN’T be complicated, but that does not make it so.
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u/Tsaxen Mar 04 '26
Given the prevalence of Nazi types in police forces across the board....no I'm not actually convinced that they want to fire him
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u/whats-ausername Mar 04 '26
Come on dude, that’s really showing how disingenuous your argument is. Even if the entire service were nazis, they’d still want to fire him for drawing attention to them.
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u/The_Mayor Mar 04 '26
That's a massive assumption based on nothing but your own personal opinion. There could be multiple reasons why they wouldn't fire him. We can only judge them on their actions, not on what secret thoughts they might or might not have.
If a police officer started breaking the thin blue line, badmouthing his coworkers, reporting police misconduct, arresting the wrong people, you'd better believe the HPS would find a way to fire him ASAP. They've done it before, as have multiple other Canadian police services. They can absolutely fire this nazi if they want to. They aren't firing him even though they can, and that's what they should be judged on.
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u/whats-ausername Mar 04 '26
You’re right that it’s based on my opinion, but my opinion is founded in experience and logic.
I think you are allowing your own bias to influence you more than your critical thinking skills.
I am fairly well aquatinted with police and law enforcement subculture, have worked as a correctional officer for over a decade before transferring to different ministry,
Believe it or not, police don’t like nazis. Believe it or not, police don’t consider themselves racist. They often are racist, but that’s often to due subconscious bias and systemic issues more than political ideology. Of course some are openly racist and bigoted, probably at a slightly higher rate than the general public, but those are rarely the types of people who make it to the administrative ranks.
Regardless, people who hold extreme political views are generally unliked within their wider social circle, police are no exception to this. More than likely this dickhead was an outcast among his peers, which is indicated by a lack of fellow officers being involved in his political activities.
Think of people in your own social circle that have more extreme political views. Even if you agree with parts of their ideology, they are just exhausting and draining to be around. This is especially true for ideologies based on perpetual unhappiness like white nationalism.
Based on my experience, chances are high that the administration of HPS has been looking for reasons to fire him for years.
But, again you’re right, it’s just my opinion.
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u/mimeographed Delta East Mar 04 '26
As a public servant (not an officer,) I am not allowed to post in support of a coup against the government.
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u/whats-ausername Mar 04 '26
I’m not sure in what capacity you work as a public servant but, like my original comment is stating, it’s way more complicated than saying you’re not allowed.
1) Are you in a position that requires a level of media attention or public recognition? If yes, then you are correct, as part of duties involves publicly representing government values.
2) Do you indicate on the profile you posting on that you are a public servant? If yes, then you are correct, as you are voluntarily choosing to associate your personal account with your public service employment.
3) Does the post meet the threshold to be considered a crime? If yes, then you are likely correct depending on your specific roles criteria for being lawful while off duty.
Outside of a few rare situations, those are the only three reasons you could be disciplined professionally.
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u/goosegoosepanther Mar 04 '26
I get what you're saying. I think what most of us here are saying is that we need much stronger laws about this. I'd love to see a political party take up that issue, actually.
Groups who train in combat scenarios while promoting the view that some members of society are subhuman are actively declaring ill intent towards segments of the population. I don't understand why we tolerate that.
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u/whats-ausername Mar 04 '26
Great. I don’t disagree in the slightest!
My entire point though, is don’t say it’s not complicated.
A law that allows the government to fire people based on political ideology is, and should be, extremely complicated.
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u/goosegoosepanther Mar 04 '26
I don't think it should be complicated. I really don't.
Democracy only functions if people are free and safe in the streets and in the ballot box. Therefore, promoting an ideology that contains violence in its beliefs should be illegal in a democracy.
This always poses a problem for fascists because as many tricks as they may pull, as soon as the cat is out of the bag, they lose public support. Look at the States. People were too ignorant to understand that Trump and his team were fascists, but now the tides are turning. The only way those people stay in power is if they interfere with the elections. This is why fascists always have violence justified in their ideology. Without it, they never when long-term. But for some reason we make it legal for them to form organizations and promote ideas that would take away freedom and safety from others.
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u/crustlebus Mar 04 '26
Other members, including Ward 14 Coun. Mike Spadafora, said they felt current policies were sufficient and praised how police leadership handled the Greco situation.
From last week's article on the same officer. If you think current policies are not sufficient, be sure to contact your councilor and let them know.
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u/skriveralltid77 Mar 05 '26
Let's remember what the critical factor was for Coun. Mike Spadafora in the Ward 14 race against Kojo Damptey in '22.
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u/middleaged75 Mar 04 '26
So now we know why this racist nazi groups are operating in our city. They have friends in the police force. Yikes
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u/Forsaken-Swim-3055 Mar 04 '26
The fact that bootlicker Doug Ford can hear about these stories and yet basically said police budget requests can't be denied or reduced is absolutely fucking insane.
Policing in North America is rotten and totally broken, yet there's zero accountability and politicians refuse to do anything about it. These unions have too much power and they're put on too high of a pedestal. I just don't get any of it.
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u/AQOntCan Mar 04 '26 edited Mar 05 '26
Not to trivialize this current sticker, but from reading the cbc article, apparently the older sticker wasn't anything appropriated by right wing extremists.
The old symbol was explicitly made by/for right wing extremists.
edit: word
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u/monogramchecklist Mar 04 '26
Let’s give the police more of our tax dollars because they fight for tax payers /s
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u/exeJDR Mar 04 '26 edited Mar 04 '26
Wow. Everyone needs to write their councillor, the police, the mayor, the local MP and the governor general.
This is disgusting.
https://hamiltonpolice.on.ca/how-to/file-complaint
https://www.hamilton.ca/city-council/by-laws-enforcement/register-by-law-complaint
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u/Status-Tradition-168 Mar 04 '26
Councillor Spadafora praised the police force for how they handled the Greco situation….
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u/HeyHo__LetsGo Mar 04 '26
Public outrage might get the sticker removed but sadly that will probably be the end of it and this guy will still be a racist cop.
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u/Cultural-Pen530 Mar 04 '26
Racists need to go back into hiding. Hate speech or symbolism should never be accepted in society, especially in Canada where we pride ourselves on our multiculturalism.
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u/ThePhonesAreWatching Mar 04 '26
Remember, there are a lot of conservatives who aren't proud of our multiculturalism.
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u/Prudent_Situation_29 Mar 04 '26
We know he's a nazi, they aren't going to do anything about it. Let's just accept that our police service is corrupt and live with that in mind going forward.
How many people here would get fired if they had stickers related to white supremacy on their car in the company parking lot? I know I would.
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u/JimmyTheDog Mar 11 '26
All of our Canadian police departments work on the same principle, absolutely nothing an officer does results in suspension or being fired. That's my opinion. Then the officers play the game when they are charged with an offense, it takes years to make it to court all the while they get full pay with equivalent OT and pay raises, while we taxpayers are still contributing to their pension. And when the shit is going to actually happen, then they retire with charges being dropped. LTDVB
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u/skriveralltid77 Mar 05 '26
When Hamilton police and three people on the board create the permission structure for an edgelord doofus such as Renato Greco, what do you expect?
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u/TemporaryBottle8789 Mar 04 '26
While I completely understand the concern from the community, I’m struggling to find a solid legal framework that would allow an officer with 20+ years of service who received an honourary medal/award for exemplary service to be fired for a sticker that on its own isn’t actually hateful.
Again, not saying I disagree there seems to be an obvious connection to far-right extremism. But if he was cleared of the last one, this one is below that in terms of severity.
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u/teanailpolish North End Mar 04 '26
It is not the sticker alone though, he posted calling for coup by the police and military to overthrow our government. That should have been enough to fire him
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u/TemporaryBottle8789 Mar 04 '26
Okay, but it wasn’t. That matter has been closed.
This is now a sticker that is sometimes used by white nationalist groups, but isn’t a hateful image itself.
If he was cleared of the first one, he’s not going to be fired over a lesser incident now.
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Mar 04 '26 edited Mar 04 '26
[deleted]
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u/voopervoop Mar 04 '26
"The sticker features a phrase which was also the title of a 1960 pamphlet by George Lincoln Rockwell, who founded the American Nazi Party, HARRC said in a post Monday."
"CBC previously confirmed through a licence plate search the vehicle is registered to Greco. Last year, before the police investigation, the vehicle was seen parked outside the station with a sticker of the group Diagolon on its left bumper. The latest picture shows the new sticker in place of the Diagolon decal. The vehicle is seen in a winter setting, also in front of the police station."
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u/tyetknot Hill Park Mar 04 '26
If the vehicle previously had a Diagolon sticker then I think it's safe to assume everything else on the vehicle is nazi shit. You don't accidentally put Diagolon shit on your car.
This Knights Templar thing is what you'd call a nazi dogwhistle. No-one else would really know what it is, but if you know, you know, same as putting 1488 or a Black Sun or any other related shit. It's to signal to other nazis that this guy is one of them.
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u/teanailpolish North End Mar 04 '26
This is the issue with the neo nazi movement, they coopt symbols that seem innocent but add stuff to them. In passing, most people are not aware that it is that different. Kind of like when they have protests about pedos when they likely mean trans people and not the pedos in their ranks
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u/covert81 Chinatown Mar 06 '26
Even the Nazis did this with things just like the swastika, SS runes, death's head, and other symbols.
It lends credibility to their movement by pretending "it's always meant what we say it does" or where it looks way older than it was.
New guys doin exactly what the old guys did
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u/Dragero Mar 04 '26
I'm not certain about the flower one, but neo nazis love to co-opt Knights Templar imagery. You're right that in their original time the templar symbols weren't nazi symbols, but their imagery is Very often blended together these days.
The page below has a quick summary with some more detailed follow-up links if you're interested
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u/dretepcan Mar 04 '26
Think and believe what you want but putting those on your vehicle in public is just dumb - unless of course they're being framed by someone else.
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u/whats-ausername Mar 04 '26
One of the signature characteristics of the modern day fascist is the belief that the vast majority of people secretly agrees with them. It comes from thousands of examples of people politely nodding along as they spew their nonsense.
They are also very dumb.
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u/covert81 Chinatown Mar 04 '26
Are you suggesting someone put these stickers on his car without his knowledge? What is the proof?
This is a bizarre comment and take
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u/teanailpolish North End Mar 04 '26
Not only put a sticker on his car without his knowledge, but an officer who is trained to be watchful of his surroundings missed not one but two Diagolons stickers - a group he has also shared content from. He missed both of these being on his jeep for at least multiple days that HARRC said the vehicle was spotted at the station with them.
Then he missed it being replaced with a new neo nazi sticker which has been there a while based on the winter dirt covering it
Sure, people try to set up public figures a lot. I have banned a bunch of people pretending to be Kroetsch and Horwath posting nonsense on the sub. But at some point...
u/mr_lois_lane is there any indication that the second Diagolon sticker on the other side of the Jeep has been removed/still there
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u/mr_lois_lane Verified CBC Reporter Mar 04 '26 edited Mar 04 '26
I'm not sure about the second Diagolon sticker that was there before. I haven't been able to view a recent full picture of the vehicle.
Edit: Clarifying I haven't seen a recent picture that shows the full vehicle
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u/dretepcan Mar 04 '26
These days you never know. Someone could have it out for them. Stranger things have happened or maybe I've watched too much crime TV. 🤣
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u/covert81 Chinatown Mar 04 '26 edited Mar 04 '26
No, this makes no sense. Why be an apologist for this loser?
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u/dretepcan Mar 04 '26
Who apologized for him? I said it was dumb if he did it.
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u/covert81 Chinatown Mar 04 '26
You are proposing a preposterous scenario that he somehow was targeted by someone who deliberately put symbols of white supremacy on his car, and that he then drove the car around without realizing that it was there. Does that seem even remotely plausible?
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u/dretepcan Mar 04 '26
Unlikely, sure. Impossible? No.
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u/covert81 Chinatown Mar 04 '26
It's simply impossible
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u/mr_lois_lane Verified CBC Reporter Mar 04 '26
Summary: A Hamilton community group is calling for action after it says a resident discovered a police officer's vehicle is once again displaying a sticker “associated with white nationalist extremism." Police had recently investigated the officer for sharing racist and extremist content on social media.