U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement granted a $16.7 million contract to Kentucky-based manufacturer Compliant Technologies to purchase 6,000 electric shock gloves over the next six months.
The Department of Homeland Security said the devices would be distributed to Enforcement and Removal Operations officers and Homeland Security Investigations agents. The electric shock gloves would act as a de-escalation tool. They would be utilized in an effort to help officers and agents with controlling detainees who violently resist apprehension and arrests, without using lethal weapons.
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The Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter, or G.L.O.V.E., is designed to act as a traditional patrol glove for agents and officers. However, if one encounters an unruly person who threatens violence or resists, the person using the gloves could activate an “electrical mode” that, once the gloves make direct contact with another person’s skin, transmits an electric shock to help ensure compliance, according to CBS News. It is to be used as a “low-impact alternative de-escalation tool.”
The gloves have reportedly been used in various prisons and police departments across the country. Information obtained from ICE documents indicated that, once in use by ICE and HSI employees, the G.L.O.V.E. products would be used in “high-tension environments,” specifically citing civil disturbances outside detention centers, arrests where physical confrontations occur, and the transportation of detainees.
“It will be used when a subject is actively or passively resisting, and an officer needs to gain control quickly to prevent injuries to both parties,” read an official document about G.L.O.V.E.
Democratic politicians have expressed objections to DHS’s use of G.L.O.V.E. weapons, according to a report from NewsNation. However, a DHS spokesperson said that agents and officers within the agency began receiving training at the beginning of August. DHS also sought to quell fears and objections using the G.L.O.V.E. tool.
“Every decision is made with careful consideration and appropriately reviewed to ensure that any technology ICE utilizes is consistent with all applicable law enforcement policies and standards, said a DHS spokesperson.
