Electric Shock Gloves: How ICE's New Tool Works — and Why Some Experts Are Worried

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, known as ICE, is planning to spend up to $20 million on a special kind of glove that can deliver electric shocks to people. The Department of Homeland Security announced the purchase earlier this week. These gloves are meant to help officers control people without using deadly force. The news has sparked debate about whether this technology is safe — and whether it should be used at all.

The gloves are called GLOVE, which stands for Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter. They are made by a company called Compliant Technologies, based in Lexington, Kentucky. From the outside, these gloves look just like regular patrol gloves that officers already wear. The difference is that officers can press a switch to turn on an electrical mode that delivers a shock through the glove.

The gloves are classified as a non-lethal tool, meaning they are not designed to kill. They work differently from stun guns or Tasers, which send electricity through the whole body to lock up muscles. Instead, the GLOVE sends quick electrical pulses through pads on the palm and fingers, targeting only the skin where the glove touches. The company calls this method Neuro-Peripheral Interference, or NPI.

Here is how the shock works on the body. The electricity overstimulates the nerve endings in the skin, which causes sharp pain in just that one spot. The pain makes it hard for a person to move in a controlled way, but it does not cause the whole body to freeze up like a Taser would. The company says a person will usually comply, or stop resisting, within three seconds, and that the gloves leave no burns, marks, or scars.

A small rechargeable battery and a tiny computer chip are stored in a zippered pouch on the wrist of the glove. The officer wearing the glove should not feel any shock, and neither should other officers who might be holding the person. The gloves can work in temperatures ranging from 14 to 122 degrees Fahrenheit, which covers most weather conditions.

There are three versions of the glove: Gen 3, Gen 4, and Gen 5. All versions are limited to a maximum of 380 volts of electricity. One concerning detail is that older models can shock someone continuously for up to two hours, while Gen 5 is limited to 90 minutes.

The newer Gen 4 and Gen 5 models record information every time the glove is activated. They log the date, the time, and how long the glove was in contact with a person's skin. This data is meant to help supervisors review how officers use the gloves and hold them accountable.

The company has strict rules about how the gloves should be used. Officers can only shock a person's arms and legs — never the head, face, throat, chest, or groin. The gloves must not be used to punish someone, and they should never be used on elderly people, young children, pregnant people, or those with serious disabilities.

The gloves also have some important limits. They only work if they touch a person's bare skin, and they will not work through dry clothing or thick hair. However, they can work through thin, wet clothing like a soaked T-shirt, and they will stop working if submerged in water.

Not everyone thinks these gloves are a good idea. Michael Crowley is a senior researcher at the Omega Research Foundation, a group that tracks how police and military equipment is used around the world. He says that even though the company calls the gloves a de-escalation tool, their real purpose is to cause pain. He and his organization believe this makes them an abusive technology that should not be used by law enforcement, including ICE.