Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to spend up to $20 million to buy thousands of gloves that deliver painful electric shocks to people in its custody, according to a notice published Monday by the Department of Homeland Security and first reported by the Associated Press [1]. The notice describes the purchase of thousands of "conductive distraction and de-escalation devices" for officers and agents by March [1].
The device is the G.L.O.V.E., short for Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter, made by Compliant Technologies LLC of Lexington, Kentucky [1]. Per the company, the gloves must be applied directly to someone's skin to deliver a pain stimulus that typically helps an officer gain compliance within seconds [1].
Neither the government nor the manufacturer would say much on the record. DHS said Tuesday that it was working on a response to an Associated Press inquiry and offered no immediate comment [1]. Reached by the AP, Compliant's chief executive, Jeff Niklaus, said, "Unfortunately, we are unable to speak on this subject" [1].
Civil rights advocates zeroed in on how quietly the device can be used. "ICE spent the last year showing this country they are too quick to use force," said the ACLU's Jenn Rolnick Borchetta. "Now they will be able to deploy electric shocks with the slight push of a button that maybe nobody else can see them do" [1].
John Peters, president of the Institute for the Prevention of In-Custody Deaths, who is studying how the device has been used, described the sensation of the device from the officer's training side. "It's immediate and sharp, and it will distract you. I call it like a bee sting," he said, adding that if an officer is getting any type of resistance from a person, the tool is effective [1].
