One month after Hamilton police suspended an officer while the service investigates his public support for white nationalist groups, an anti-racism organization says it warned police eight months ago about the officer.
In August, Hamilton Police Service (HPS) said they suspended Const. Renato Greco while they investigated what they said were “disturbing” social media posts.
Those posts — which CBC Hamilton asked police about following a tip from a reader — included content the officer re-shared from extremist groups, anti-immigrant messages and written in support of a coup against the government, going back at least five years.
At the time, police said they were unaware of Greco’s conduct until they were informed by CBC Hamilton.
Now, members of Hamilton Anti-Racism Resource Centre (HARRC) say they told police about Greco’s connection to the far-right in December.
Vehicle with Diagolon stickers parked outside station
Lyndon George, director of HARRC, wrote a letter in December to Hamilton police Chief Frank Bergen informing him community members had seen “a vehicle displaying a symbol associated with the hate group Diagolon” parked outside the downtown police station. The RCMP has labelled Diagolon an “extremist, militia-like organization.”
George shared images of the vehicle, which CBC has seen. They show a jeep with stickers on both sides of the back of vehicle with the black-and-white Dialogon flag.
Back then, George didn’t know who owned the vehicle but called for an investigation into whether it was an officer, especially as it was seen parked multiple times in front of the station.
Following CBC Hamilton’s article on Greco this summer, HARRC says it looked up the car’s owner through Service Ontario and learned it belonged to him. CBC Hamilton also checked the licence plate at Service Ontario and confirmed the jeep was registered to Renato Greco of Niagara Falls.
CBC Hamilton contacted Greco for comment but did not receive a response.
On Wednesday, HAARC released an excerpt of George’s letter to Bergen alongside an open letter calling for an independent investigation. “Only through transparency and independent scrutiny can the trust of Hamilton’s diverse
communities in HPS be rebuilt,” the letter said.
Hamilton police confirm they received the complaint in December and investigated it internally. The service said it first notified the Law Enforcement Complaints Agency (LECA), which oversees public complaints about misconduct of police officers, Hamilton police spokesperson Jackie Penman said in an email.
“The agency determined it did not rise to the level of public interest to self-initiate an investigation into the matter. As such, it was dealt with as an internal investigation,” she said.
Penman did not answer questions about the status of that investigation, or what, if any, actions were taken following the Hamilton police’s earlier internal investigation.
“While we understand there is interest in the outcome, the results of the December 2024 investigation remain an employment matter and details will not be released,” Penman said.
Police say they were unaware of Greco’s posts before August
CBC Hamilton viewed the letter from LECA to George, which indicated the complaint would be forwarded to the Inspector General of Policing (IOP). That organization is responsible for ensuring compliance with Ontario’s policing laws and regulations.
CBC Hamilton asked the IOP if they received that complaint and if they investigated it but did not receive a confirmation before publication.
Hamilton police said they were still “not aware of any social media activity” related to Greco until CBC’s email in July, Penman said.
“As soon as we learned about the social media posts, the member was suspended and the matter referred to another police service for investigation.”
Greco’s posts on X and Threads were public and in his own name until he was suspended and changed them to private. The very active X account re-shared posts that included racist stereotypes about marginalized groups, support for white nationalist group Second Sons, which is training for combat in Canada, and one about “white genocide,” from a white supremacist Second Sons member.
Hamilton police said following Greco’s suspension that the 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.”
HARRC calls for independent, third-party review
HARRC said a third-party, an independent civilian review and investigation is necessary into how police handled the initial complaint, given the rising number of police-reported hate incidents in the city and the growing presence of white-supremacist active clubs in Hamilton.
The organization said it will ask the Hamilton Police Services Board to commission a review by “external investigator with recognized expertise in anti-racism, hate symbols, and policing oversight.”
When asked if HPS will support HARRC’s call, Penman said “LECA and the IOP are both independent civilian-run agencies that are already aware of this matter.”
Case could set precedent for police: expert
This case “will set precedents in [HPS] for future officers,” Jen Magnus, a professor at the police and public safety program at Laurier University, told CBC Hamilton.
Magnus is also a workplace safety consultant who worked as a police officer for 14 years in Calgary, where she lives. Her husband is a member there. Magnus told CBC Hamilton she wasn’t surprised by the Greco case given recent reports she’s read about extremism within the ranks for the Canadian military.
It’s important for workers to be able to express themselves freely under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, she said, but officers’ conduct reflects back on their employers and can affect police’s relationships with communities, she said. “You don’t want to make other citizens of Canada feel unsafe.”
When she worked in law enforcement, “we knew we were police officers 365 days of the year,” Magnus said.
Greco has been an officer in Hamilton since 2002, police said in August. A post on the Governor General of Canada’s website said he was awarded the Police Exemplary Service Medal in 2023, a standard recognition of 20 years of service.
Situation ‘sends a really negative message’ to public: prof
Danielle McNabb, a political science professor at Brock University, said it’s concerning to think about an officer with such views responding to calls involving racialized people.
“Having … somebody who’s been employed for a very long time and then seeing that these posts were going on for years and years with no consequence, I think that sends a really negative message to the public,” said McNabb.
“Thinking about this individual responding to calls that are involving racialized people … reinforces this message to particular communities that the police are not actually there to be able to serve them.”
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McNabb, who researches criminal justice policy and administration, said there’s a “blue wall of silence” — an unspoken expectation officers will protect one another at all costs.
“Considering how bonded and tightly knit police officers tend to be with one another, it’s very difficult for me to imagine that none of [Greco’s] colleagues saw any of these problematic posts. And so what I think is the more likely story here is that nobody within the police service felt that they should report it,” she said.
Overall, she said, police services should proactively monitor members’ conduct before receiving complaints. And when complaints do come in, she said, police need to “do a better job of connecting with the public,” so that they can understand and trust the system.
Complaint processes and civilian oversight agencies are important to build trust, Magnus agreed, adding she believes police and civilians should have anonymous ways to share tips or make complaints.
When asked, Hamilton police did not say whether they have such a tip line.
This situation also raises the benefits of police diversifying their ranks, McNabb said, pointing to Statistics Canada data that shows 7 per cent of municipal police officers, nationwide, identified as part of a racialized group in 2023, compared to 26.5 per cent of Canada’s population.
Data from the Local News Data Hub at Toronto Metropolitan University shows 24 per cent of Hamilton police officers were women as of 2023.
