By Chanel Zagon, The Telegraph
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents will be given gloves that can deliver painful electric shocks.
Officers and agents could be fitted with the “conductive distraction and de-escalation devices” by March, according to a notice published on Monday by the Department of Homeland Security.
The devices, called Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter (G.L.O.V.E.), have been used in recent years by some jails and police departments in the US.
ICE plans to spend up to $20 million (£14.8 million) to purchase thousands of them, the Associated Press reported.
They function as a normal pair of gloves, with the electric shock occurring when officers press a switch to activate an electrical mode.
The gloves must be placed on skin to deliver the pain stimulus, which helps an officer gain compliance within seconds, according to the company.
Made by Compliant Technologies LLC in Lexington, Kentucky, they are advertised as a “humane, low-optics, de-escalation solution for many situations facing our men and women in uniform”.
The manufacturer said: “The discomfort associated with the stimulation is usually effective in bringing individuals into compliance in less than three seconds and leaves no burns, marks or scars.”
John Peters, president of the Institute for the Prevention of In-Custody Deaths, who has been studying the device, likened the pain to a “bee sting”.
“It’s immediate and sharp, and it will distract you,” he told the Associated Press.
“If the officer is getting any type of resistance from the person, this is certainly an effective tool.”
‘A recipe for harm to the public’
However, civil rights advocates have hit out at the plan, saying officers were already under fire for their use of force while enforcing Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
ICE operations have become a divisive issue in the US, with widespread protests condemning agents’ at times violent and fatal enforcement tactics. It comes as two men were shot and killed by ICE agents in Texas and Maine last month.
Jenn Rolnick Borchetta, deputy project director on policing at the American Civil Liberties Union, said there was a risk that the devices would not be used appropriately.
“ICE spent the last year showing this country they are too quick to use force,” she said.
“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.”
The manufacturer warned the device should not be used as punishment against people displaying “verbal defiance or belligerence” or on high-risk populations such as children, pregnant women or elderly or disabled people.
Mr Peters said the purchase would likely be the largest from the company to date.
He said ICE officers could use the gloves to help remove uncooperative individuals from cars and houses, and move people in and out of detention facilities.
“For smaller officers or weaker officers or older officers, I think it has a great advantage,” he said, explaining that they could produce faster takedowns and shorten confrontations.
Supporters of the devices said they were usually used in specific jail and transport situations, rather than street patrols.
According to Compliant Technologies, they have been used to subdue violent suspects refusing to get into police cars and inmates who are harming themselves and threatening officers.
Mr Peters said while he expected the devices to be misused by a handful of employees, they were unlikely to cause injuries.
To use the device, officers must complete a course and be recertified every two years.
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