ICE plans electric shock glove purchase

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to spend up to $20 million on gloves that can deliver electric shocks, a purchase that has drawn alarm from civil rights advocates as the agency faces scrutiny over its use of force during the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

The Department of Homeland Security published a notice Monday saying ICE intends to buy “conductive distraction and de-escalation devices” for officers and agents by March. The planned purchase is valued between $10 million and $20 million, and the solicitation for a no-bid contract could be published as early as Friday, according to CBS News.

The devices are known as the G.L.O.V.E., short for Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter. They are manufactured by Compliant Technologies LLC of Lexington, Kentucky, and have been used in recent years by some jails and police departments in the United States.

Compliant Technologies says the devices work like normal patrol gloves until an officer presses a switch to activate the electrical mode. The gloves must be applied directly to a person’s skin to deliver a pain stimulus. According to the company, “the discomfort associated with the stimulation is usually effective in bringing individuals into compliance in less than three seconds and leaves no burns, marks or scars.” The Guardian reported that the company has advertised the device as a “humane, low-optics, de-escalation solution for many situations facing our men and women in uniform.”

John Peters, president of the Institute for the Prevention of In-Custody Deaths, is studying how the device has been used. “It’s immediate and sharp, and it will distract you. I call it like a bee sting,” Peters told The Associated Press. “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 people from cars and houses and move them 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 that the device should not be used as punishment, against people who are merely showing “verbal defiance or belligerence,” or on high-risk groups such as children, pregnant women, elderly people or disabled people. Compliant Technologies says officers must complete a course to use the device and be recertified every two years.

Civil rights advocates, including the American Civil Liberties Union, criticized the plan and questioned whether the gloves are appropriate for civil 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,” Jenn Rolnick Borchetta, deputy project director on policing at the ACLU, told The Associated Press. “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, not broadly for street patrols. According to Compliant Technologies, they have been used to subdue violent suspects refusing to get into squad cars and inmates who are harming themselves and threatening officers.

Peters said he expects a small number of employees could misuse the devices, as with other policing technologies, but said they are unlikely to cause injuries. He said ICE would need robust policies and training.

The planned purchase comes as ICE expands arrests of people accused of being in the United States illegally, amid White House pressure to arrest 2,000 people per day. ICE has faced scrutiny for tactics during the arrest surge, including attempted vehicle stops in Maine and Texas last month that ended with agents fatally shooting two immigrants. In both shootings, agents were not wearing body cameras. DHS has pledged to widely deploy body-worn cameras and said last month that all ICE arrest teams will have at least one officer equipped with a camera going forward.

DHS told The Associated Press on Tuesday that it was working on a response to an inquiry and offered no immediate comment. Jeff Niklaus, founder and CEO of Compliant Technologies, told the AP: “Unfortunately, we are unable to speak on this subject.”