Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers could soon receive specialized gloves designed to deliver painful electric shocks as a way to force compliance from people who resist or become combative.
ICE is preparing to spend as much as $20 million on thousands of “conductive distraction and de-escalation devices” for officers and agents by March, according to a Department of Homeland Security notice released Monday.
The equipment, called the G.L.O.V.E. — short for Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter — is made by Compliant Technologies LLC, based in Lexington, Kentucky. Similar devices have been adopted in recent years by some law enforcement agencies and jails.
DHS said Tuesday it was preparing a response to a question from The Associated Press but did not immediately comment. Jeff Niklaus, Compliant Technologies’ founder and CEO, said by email, “Unfortunately, we are unable to speak on this subject.”
According to the notice, the solicitation for a no-bid contract could be issued as soon as Friday.
The proposal quickly drew concern from civil rights advocates, who said ICE is already under scrutiny for use-of-force incidents and what critics describe as limited oversight and accountability during President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement push.
Compliant Technologies describes the G.L.O.V.E. as functioning like an ordinary pair of patrol gloves until an officer activates its electrical setting with a switch. The company says the gloves must make direct contact with a person’s skin to deliver a pain stimulus that typically helps gain compliance within seconds.
“It’s immediate and sharp, and it will distract you. I call it like a bee sting,” said John Peters, president of the Institute for the Prevention of In-Custody Deaths, who is studying the device’s use. “If the officer is getting any type of resistance from the person, this is certainly an effective tool.”
Peters said he believed ICE’s planned purchase would likely be the largest from the company to date. He said he could envision ICE officers using the gloves to help remove uncooperative subjects from cars and houses and in and out of detention facilities.
“For smaller officers or weaker officers or older officers, I think it has a great advantage” because it can produce faster takedowns and shorten confrontations, he said.
The manufacturer warns the device should not be used as punishment, against people merely exhibiting “verbal defiance or belligerence” or on high-risk populations such as children, pregnant women or elderly or disabled people.
Jenn Rolnick Borchetta, deputy project director on policing at the American Civil Liberties Union, said the public should have no confidence that ICE officers will use the devices appropriately. She questioned why the devices would be necessary for civil immigration enforcement and noted those getting shocked might have no advance warning.
“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.”
Supporters say the devices are generally used in specific jail and transport situations, rather than broadly to patrol on the streets. They have been used to subdue violent suspects who are refusing to get into squad cars and inmates who are harming themselves and threatening officers, according to Compliant Technologies.
Peters said he expected the devices to be misused by a small number of employees, as with other policing technologies, but he said they are unlikely to cause injuries. He said it would be important for ICE to have robust policies and training in place.
To use the device, officers must complete a course and be recertified every two years, the manufacturer says.
