Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers may soon be wearing gloves that can deliver powerful electric shocks. Homeland Security announced the $20 million plan Monday, and officials say the gloves will be used as “conductive distraction and de-escalation devices.”
Being a product created by Compliance Technologies LLC, these G.L.O.V.E.s, standing for Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter, are capable of administering an electric shock of 380 volts of electricity, far less than traditional tasers. According to Compliance Technologies’ main website, these gloves are a way to reduce officer casualties in the field, highlighting the percentage of officers who are harmed by attacks from close range.
Human rights activists immediately expressed concerns about the devices, highlighting that ICE already faces criticism for its use of excessive force without accountability as it enforces President Trump’s crackdown on immigration.
Geoffrey Alpert, a criminology professor at the University of South Carolina, stated that these gloves should be studied more broadly to better ensure that departments have the proper guidance when using them.
“You are wholesaling these to a group of officers who may not be trained in other strategies like de-escalation or trained to interact with the public in non-enforcement ways, like most local police officers are,” he said in a story by AP News. “User error is almost predictable at some level. The tech may be fine, but let’s take a minute and make sure that it is used in an appropriate custom and practice.”
With the reputation ICE has gained, many have concerns that they would use the devices properly, fearing that the gloves would be another way for agents to abuse suspects.
Jenn Borchetta, deputy project director on policing at the American Civil Liberties Union, shared this sentiment with AP News, questioning why these gloves should even be deployed.
“ICE spent the last year showing this country they are too quick to use force. Now they will be able to deploy electric shocks with the slight push of a button that maybe nobody else can see them do,” she said. “Introducing gloves that can so easily be used to deliver terrible pain in encounters is a recipe for harm to the public.”
According to demonstrations by Compliance Technologies, officers would be able to turn the glove on and off at will, allowing it to function like a standard glove rather than maintaining a constant electrical charge. The shock from the glove is described as painful. Additionally, the glove can only deliver shocks through skin contact, meaning the electric shock cannot travel through hair, clothing, or other accessories.
The company warns that the gloves should not be used in response to “verbal defiance or belligerence,” nor should they be used on high-risk individuals such as pregnant women, the disabled, or the elderly.
Supporters for the deployment of the gloves claim that they would only be utilized in specific prison and detainment scenarios.
White House Border Czar Tom Homan defended the deployment of the gloves in an interview on the Fox News segment “Fox and Friends.”
“It’s another device to help someone get compliant when they are not,” Homan said. “You can’t just go from 0 to 100, right, and the first thing you go for is lethal force”
Homan argued that the gloves would be similar to other de-escalation tools like pepper spray.
Similarly, Nelson County Jailer Justin Hall said Thursday that his department has been utilizing the gloves for the past four years, stating that the devices, unlike standard-issue equipment, don’t leave any permanent mark or scar and don’t make the subject fall.
Hall himself was shocked 10 times during training with the gloves. He stated that it was painful, but the pain immediately dissipated when the glove was removed.
As of now, it is unclear when ICE will start deploying these devices.
