ICE said its pursuit of electrified shock gloves is meant to be a less violent option for officers and agents seeking to gain control of unruly individuals, reducing the need to use a Taser, baton or pepper spray.
David Venturella, acting head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said they have not yet deployed the gloves in the field and are still in the procurement phase.
He said unlike a Taser, which shoots probes at a person, the Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter, or GLOVE system, would have agents make direct physical contact with a target’s bare skin. It would send “low-level electrical pulses” that would help officers gain compliance.
Mr. Venturella, in a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, described it as “a lower level of force than other intermediate methods.”
“This technology is intended to provide officers with an additional, controlled option to de-escalate volatile situations,” the ICE chief wrote.
The system made headlines when it was first reported.
ICE critics worried about giving another tool to an agency under fire for its treatment of protesters of President Trump’s mass deportation campaign.
Mr. Grassley, Iowa Republican, had asked ICE to explain its thinking.
ICE said a pair of gloves would cost $2,495.
When an agent or officer uses the gloves, it would have to be reported as a use-of-force incident. Personnel would get annual training, on top of their quarterly use-of-force training.
The procurement documents for the gloves said they would be available to both Homeland Security Investigations, the agency’s criminal division, and Enforcement and Removal Operations, the deportation force that carries out civil immigration enforcement.
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