ICE Officers to Be Outfitted With Gloves That Deliver Painful Electric Shocks ‘Like a Bee Sting’

ICE officers may soon have a new weapon in their arsenal.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement is planning to spend up to $20 million to outfit agents with gloves that deliver electric shocks, according to a Department of Homeland Security notice published on Monday, August 10.

The G.L.O.V.E. — or Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter — devices are described in the notice as “conductive distraction and de-escalation devices” and must be applied directly to someone’s skin to elicit a shock.

“It’s immediate and sharp, and it will distract you. I call it like a bee sting,” John Peters, president of the Institute for the Prevention of In-Custody Deaths, told the AP in a story published on August 12. “If the officer is getting any type of resistance from the person, this is certainly an effective tool.”

“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, added Peters.

The news comes amid a slew of controversies for the agency during President Donald Trump‘s crackdown on illegal immigration, in which officers have been accused of using unnecessary force, including in the headline-making deaths of Minneapolis residents Renee Good and Alex Pretti in January.

“ICE spent the last year showing this country they are too quick to use force,” Jenn Rolnick Borchetta, deputy project director on policing at the American Civil Liberties Union, told the AP. “Now they will be able to deploy electric shocks with the slight push of a button that maybe nobody else can see them do. Introducing gloves that can so easily be used to deliver terrible pain in encounters is a recipe for harm to the public.”

Peters acknowledged to the AP that there was a potential for misuse, so ICE would need to conduct rigorous training.

Officers must complete a course and be recertified every two years to use the device, according to the manufacturer.

Reactions to the technology were divided. “Wouldn’t it be cheaper and easier to simply buy cattle prods?” wrote one commenter, while another called the idea “cruel and inhumane.”

But others pointed out that it’s a good thing that the G.L.O.V.E. is a safer option than guns. “It’s non-lethal,” wrote one. “Don’t like it, don’t resist or obstruct.”