ICE to allocate up to $20 million for electric shock gloves

The Department of Homeland Security announced that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) intends to purchase thousands of electrically powered gloves, called Glove (Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter), by March, with a budget of up to $20 million (£15 million). The devices are produced by Compliant Technologies LLC of Lexington, Kentucky.

According to the manufacturer, the gloves function as ordinary patrol gloves until a switch is pressed, activating an electrical mode that delivers a brief pain stimulus when applied directly to a person’s skin. The company states the discomfort typically prompts compliance in less than three seconds and does not cause burns, marks or scars. It markets the product as a "humane, low-optics, de-escalation solution" for law-enforcement situations.

"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.

Civil-rights advocates expressed concern about the acquisition. Jenn Rolnick Borchetta, deputy project director on policing at the American Civil Liberties Union, said the plan raises questions about the use of force in immigration enforcement.

"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 told the Associated Press.

Peters suggested the gloves could be used to remove uncooperative subjects from vehicles, homes, and detention facilities. The manufacturer cautions that the device should not be employed as punishment or against individuals who are merely verbally defiant, nor on vulnerable populations such as children, pregnant women, the elderly or disabled.

Jeff Niklaus, founder and CEO of Compliant Technologies, declined to comment further on the matter.