ICE to equip agents with gloves that deliver painful electric shocks
Department of Homeland Security says devices could reach officers by March; agency plans up to $20 million purchase.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has approved plans for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers to receive gloves that can deliver painful electric shocks, the agency said in its procurement notice.
According to the announcement, ICE could field the so-called "electrical stimulation and de-escalation" devices to officers by March, with a potential purchase of thousands of units worth up to $20 million.
The gloves look like ordinary protective gloves but include a switch that activates a brief electric stimulus when the glove makes direct contact with skin. The manufacturer, Compliant Technologies of Lexington, Kentucky, markets the product as a "humane, unobtrusive solution for de-escalation in a range of situations faced by officers." The company says the discomfort normally causes compliance within seconds and leaves no burns, marks or scars.
John Peters, president of the Institute for the Prevention of Deaths in Custody, who has studied the device, compared the pain to a bee sting. "The pain is immediate and sharp and distracts attention. For the shorter or weaker officers, as well as for older officers, I think this has a big advantage," he said.
Controversy and criticism
Human-rights groups warned that putting a device capable of inflicting intense pain into routine use risks abuse. "Introducing gloves that can so easily be used to inflict intense pain on people in contact is a recipe for endangering the public," said Jenn Rolnick Borchetta, deputy director of the Policing Project at the American Civil Liberties Union.
Critics point to a wave of scrutiny over ICE enforcement tactics, noting recent deadly encounters: agents shot and killed two men in Texas and Maine last month. The manufacturer cautions the device should not be used as punishment for verbal resistance or noncompliance, nor on vulnerable populations such as children, pregnant women, older adults or people with disabilities.
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