Ryan J. Foley
Iowa City: US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers may soon be outfitted with gloves that can deliver painful electric shocks intended to gain compliance from combative targets.
ICE plans to spend up to $US20 million ($28 million) to purchase thousands of “conductive distraction and de-escalation devices” for officers and agents by March, according to a notice published by the Department of Homeland Security.
The devices are known as the G.L.O.V.E. – which stands for Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter – and are manufactured by Compliant Technologies of Lexington, Kentucky. Sometimes referred to as the “Batman glove”, they have been used in recent years by some jails and police departments.
DHS said on Tuesday (US time) that it was working on a response to an Associated Press inquiry and offered no immediate comment. Jeff Niklaus, the founder and chief executive of Compliant, wrote in an email, “Unfortunately, we are unable to speak on this subject”.
The notice said the solicitation for a no-bid contract could be published as early as Friday.
Civil rights advocates expressed alarm at the plan, saying ICE officers already face criticism for their use of force with little oversight or accountability.
At least 10 people have died in encounters with immigration agents since US President Donald Trump launched an immigration crackdown after taking office.
Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a 25-year-old Colombian national was shot and killed last month while in his car near his home in the Maine city of Biddeford. About a week earlier, an ICE officer shot and killed 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo during a pursuit in Houston.
In January, the US was rocked by the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, both American citizens who were protesting ICE raids in Minneapolis during an enforcement blitz.
Compliant says the devices function as a normal pair of patrol gloves until officers press a switch to activate their electrical mode. The gloves must be applied directly to someone’s skin to deliver a pain stimulus that typically helps an officer gain compliance within seconds, according to the company.
“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 how the device has been used. “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 take-downs 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 would 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 were 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.
AP
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