Nothing will ever change as long as there are Legacy Customs bootlicks like MF Jones and QTD to slavishly ape the Legacy Customs bullshit, cover for the miserable, abusive, Legacy Customs managers and allow them to get away with any degree of abuse with complete impunity.

And. prior to the INS/Customs merger of March 2003, these managers were also abusive to Legacy Customs subordinates as well. They had a history of lousy, abusive management style. The merger only provided them with more targets to for their miserable abuse.
MF Jones, if I thought you were sincere, I would thank you for your suggestions about creating another EEO category of discrimination and quotas for Legacy INS personnel who are being abused and discriminated against by Legacy Customs managers. However, I believe you are merely concocting these issues to incite anti-INS sentiments and to sidetrack focus from the core questions raised by this incident.

The core question that I am discussing here is exactly as Debbie Schlussel has reported and headlined as follows:

Reports of Kozak’s past history of discrimination and abuse, plus, being an open INS hater, and that consequently many were not surprised that Kozak was shot. If these reports are true and Kozak’s abusive style, history of EEO discrimination complaints including at least one that was sustained, plus, being an open INS Hater were well known, how could upper management authorize the assignment of such a person to any position of authority, no less as a Deputy SAC?

While attempted murder can never be justified, neither should the abuse of authority, bullying of subordinates, and discrimination against any human being, irrespective if they were Legacy INS or Customs.

Been There on May 3, 2012 at 12:25 pm

Well….There you go again…BeenThere, judging by your repetitious babbling and stupid questions, I believe you a chump. Just why are you asking these questions? We who read this blog already know what’s been posted, we can read.

Why don’t you hop on a plane to LA and conduct your own independent investigation, that way you will satisfied at the answers you get because you will find them out for yourself. a word of caution at arriving at your already preconceived notion about “open ins haters”, don’t get led astray by thos awful Customs types that control that SAC office.

Better yet, limit your investigation to the ins types only, that way you’ll be sure to get the answer you so desperately seek, and then you’ll be able to come back on this blog and say “you see, you see, I told you so!”

Then hop on a plane to DC and present your findings to the Senate sub-committee on the prevention of cruelty to ins peoples. I am sure they’ll welcome you with open arms. But again, just watch out for the awful Customs types, I’ve heard they have even infiltrated DC at the very highest levels, but that’s another story.

Good Luck 🙂

MF Jones on May 8, 2012 at 2:15 pm

p.s. to BeenThere: Maybe you can get one of Woosely’s turkeys to pay for your trip with their government credit card and travel budget, the purpose is the same: USELESS.

MF Jones on May 8, 2012 at 2:18 pm

Anything you say clown. Anything you say..

Its ironic that Customs folks defend Kozak even though there were probably more Customs folks who filed complaints against Kozak than Legacy INS. Are you saying that all of those Customs complaintants were also merely whiners trying to game the system?

It appears by all of these complaints by both Legacy Customs andcomplaintants and reported here that Kozak had a problem.

Not Surprised on May 9, 2012 at 12:27 am

Whats’ the word about the “investigation”?

CPO Sharky on May 11, 2012 at 9:56 am

More to this story than disgruntle employees. Something else going on here.

Dave Ivens on June 3, 2012 at 9:38 am

Here’s what I heard happened. Kevin did not like Zeke taking days off when he injured his back following his car accident while he was in Laguna Niguel. So he purposely had Zeke reassigned to Long beach and to the office across the hall from his so he could check up on his every morning. He made it look like he was getting his coffee every morning, but he only started drinking the coffee in the area in front of Zeke’s office AFTER Zeke was transferred to Long Beach. Zeke would go to Perry with reasonable arguments why he WAS doing his job as supervisor, why his agents WERE doing their jobs, and Perry twisted it all around with Kevin on purpose to piss Kevin off even more against Zeke. So Perry and Kevin both have blood on their hands IF this is true. If it was true, then was it worth it Perry? Was it worth it Kevin? Kevin is walking with a cane. His left hand is gnarled and useless as far as holding a gun. He can walk, as he comes in every so often to have lunch with Claude Arnold. Perry is still messed up mentally and has not returned to work. Look for him to either get transferred to a foreign posting or retire altogether on a mental disability. LA’s employee appreciation picnic is coming up and rumor has it that Claude will recognize Perry for his “heroic” actions that tragic February night.

OneInLa on June 21, 2012 at 8:02 pm

Here’s a dose of reality “One In LA”. I’m told that Zeke would show up to work often at 11 am and everyone in the Long Beach office, mainly the Training Group and Administrative Group who shared workspace next to Zeke, noticed it. It was clear that Zeke was not effectively leading his group – in fact, his own group was playing the system by showing up late,again, which was close to 11 am each day. In fact, only one rookie and two of Zeke’s admin staff were ever in the office by 8:30 am while Zeke and the others were nowhere to be found – what waste, fraud, and abuse – a poor example of law enforcement. Check the stats on Zeke’s group while in Long Beach – nuff’ said…..

I personally knew Zeke as a friendly guy but really didn’t know his work ethic, but I heard a rumor that the
REAL REASON ZEKE WAS TRANSFERRED TO THE LONG BEACH OFFICE was
Five, count’em, FIVE substantiated sexual harassment claims by female government workers from the Orange County / Laguna Niguel offices, which is the very reason Zeke was transferred to Long Beach in the first place.

SAC/LA management had no choice but to remove Zeke from being near these females, hence the move to Long Beach. So you poor fools who think management was messing with him by forcing him to Long Beach, doubling his commute for no reason should be ashamed – Zeke brought all this upon himself.

From what I’ve heard, Zeke chose to use the entire SAC/LA management as a scape goat, probably because he saw the hammer about to drop from the sexual harassment claims. Word from several people working in the Long Beach office (I work in a SAC/LA sub-office), it was actually Zeke, who twisted the story and tried to form a mutiny amoung his group against Kozak, but it failed. Now they have to do their job and be accountable like everyone else. At least Zeke’s group now has a competent supervisor replacement.

Don’t worry, this dose of reality will be shown in the final FBI report as everyone knows SAC/LA is no paradise, but the reality is Zeke was an agent who could not deal with life, failed to seek out professional help, was failing in reconciling his divorce, and resorted to violence. PERIOD.

I pray for his family for having to a life long suffering due to Zeke’s selfishness and poor decision-making. Had he simply filed a grievance, then a legal panel would determine if anyone was “messing” with him.

P.S. there are no heroes here, only lessons learned.

A dose of reality on July 17, 2012 at 1:04 am

Wow, so Zeke and Kozak had something inis common. According to the reports posted here quite a few complaints were filed against Kozak including those filed by female subordinates with at least one sustained. Were any actuallyy officially sustained against Zeke and the plaintiff awarded damages?

Its interesting that apparently Legacy Customs folks are expected to use their US Govt vehicles to commute to and from work and are faulted for failure to report to work at 0830am.

Most investigators and supervisors that I know are issued Govt vehicles precisely to proceed from thier residences to conduct their investigative work, rather than wasting taxpayer money and time by first commuting and battling to downtown office locations. It sounds like those who work at the Long Beach office are expected to be mostly office-bound and do not require individually issued Govt vehicles just to commute to/from work.

Were the targets of investigation by Eke’s Group based only around the area of the Long Beach office and only conduct their criminal activity during office hours, after 0830 am. Sounds fishy and that those faulting Zeke have not done much real field work, but just go in and hang out at the office. Too bad that these types are often promoted before the real agents who are out doing the job.

Not Surprised on August 2, 2012 at 2:52 am

Too bad that the office type agents can stand in judgment of the field agents who actually are out doing the job and not just kow towing toadying up around the office.

Not Surprised on August 2, 2012 at 2:58 am

To “Not Surprised”, AKA “One In LA”, or whatever label you want to hide yourself, if you read my first post closely, I clearly stated that many reliable sources working in Long Beach said the only people showing up to work near 8:30 am from Zeke’s group each day were Zeke’s rookie agent and two admin staff. If Zeke and his group were out “working”, i.e. surveillance or making arrests, wouldn’t the rookie agent be there too??? I remember when I was a rookie, I was always stuck out sitting on surveillance while the senior agents were in the office….why was it the reverse in Zeke’s group? It was so because Zeke NEVER showed up to work in the morning and his senior agents were smart enough to come to work just a few minutes before Zeke normally did. Face it, all of the Long Beach office knew this. I bet now that Zeke’s replacement supervisor is there, all her senior agents show up to work in the morning like everyone else.

Think about it!

The generally accepted rule for HSI is unless you are out performing LAW ENFORCEMENT Duties at the beginning of the day, you come into the office – plain and simple.

For anyone thinking the Long Beach office was wrong to expect this of anyone, In December 2011 (2 months before Zeke went postal), HQ sent a memo to all SAC offices nationally stating the core work hours were 8:30 to 5:00…again, think about it.

You want to demonize a person or a system, I’m not surprised either.

Dose of Reality on August 12, 2012 at 4:03 am

If the policy is for all ICE Agents to report directly to work with an occasional exception of doing morning law enforcement duties then the GAO should recommend sparing the taxpayers the expense of ICE Agents’ home-to-work-to home commuting. Vehicles could be dispatched on a “as needed” basis the prior day only on the rare exception that morning law enforcement duties are planned. As for “Emergency Response,” upon the occurrence of 9/11 all agents were instructed to stay home.

Not Surprised on August 28, 2012 at 11:11 am

Amazing that we’re now many months after the shooting and people are still debating the shooting. Plain and simple Zeke was wrong. He was being investigated for sex harasment possibly. Kozak and Woo should have just disciplined him accordingly and not put the whole group in the middle between them and Zeke. The group was producing stats, but people have to remember, the investigations are mid-to-long term, not quickie jobs. surprising how now that Zeke is out of the picture, they move the group to better quarters. why wasnt that done before? Anyone know if the investigation is done? One will have to FOIA for the report to hear the truth.

LAANDLOVINGIT on October 27, 2012 at 6:39 pm

In January 2013, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Central District of California responded to the FBI’s report of investigation into the February 16, 2012 shooting. Upon review of all the facts: Kozak, Woo, Garcia, any other facts: myths, theories, racism, cover ups etc and found insufficient evidence that Woo committed any crimes. The Attorney’s Office also found an overwhelming evidence that Woo protected himself and others (Kozak) from a deadly situation. The U.S. Attorney’s Office and FBI Los Angeles have promptly closed their cases.

A tragic event of workplace violence from a man who chose his destiny and committed the unthinkable.

As we are only 3 days away from the one year anniversary of the shooting, let’s all try and love and care for one another in law enforcement and help prevent something like this from happening again.

I hope my post ends this long thread of conspiracy theory and that the surviving agents and all affected heal and move on.

TRUTH on February 13, 2013 at 1:56 pm

To Truth,

On the day you posted, I did a clas prsentaion on a Workplace Violence Incident. The Subject was the the “Long Beach Shooting”

Thank you for providing closure to this tragic event and your thoughts for all involved or affected.

Also thanks to all the comments and additional insight presented here and Debbie Schlussel for providing open forum for views not found elsewhere.

regards

one student

one student on February 22, 2013 at 12:58 pm

Well, here is probably the last post on this discussion on whether there was any government cover up going on with Ezekiel Garcia shooting. He went postal like alot of people in the news recently, how sad. check this out.

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2013/03/15/fbi-shooting-at-long-beach-ice-office-justified/

done on April 10, 2013 at 8:58 pm

Debbie: you know me. Lately, there has been some CBP inspectors in Calexico, CA arrested by DHS-ICE-HSI. Where was DHS-ICE-OPR. Also CBP has its own internal affairs unit.

Also, there has been SEVERAL arrest, indictment, and sentence of some ICE-HSI low-level, supervisors, managers, Senior Executive level who receive “slap on the writs” prison sentences of two years and six months when the sentences guidelines calls for 20 years. In summary, in the average, DHS-ICE-HSI receive lenient sentences.

Shepherd on May 13, 2013 at 7:27 pm

BOTTOM LINE:

Anyone who know the level-headed and mild mannered Zeke Garcia knows with absolute certainty that it would require a great amount of abuse and provocation to set Zeke off.

At the same time, everyone who knows Kevin Kozac knew he was an abusive manager with multiple cases of abuse filed against him. The FBI report neglects to reveal this side of the story. For example, how many complaints of managerial abuse were filed against Kozak?

Who REALLY triggered this sad incident? Zeke Garcia or Keven Kozak???

One thing for certain. Zeke Garcia did not go into that office and start shooting unprovoked. The question is not whether or not Kozak provoked this. The question is to what extent Zeke Garcia was abused, and frustrated that he could not seek redress from his superiors, before he finally snapped.

Too bad only one side is being told. The Government needs to curb suchvabusive managers from provoking otherwise nice, reliable, dedicated people like Zeke Garcua to such extremes.

Phil Bonner on December 27, 2013 at 9:20 am

Phil,

I thought your aka was “Been There”. Must have been someone else. Hard to say so many have been there.

Old School

Old School on December 30, 2013 at 12:02 am

So what is going on with Kozak? He retired or still on the job?

oldschoolnewschoolanyschool on May 12, 2014 at 5:14 pm