ICE and violence seem to go hand in glove

I guess they've been around for a while now, but until ICE announced that they were putting in a big ol' order for electric shock gloves, I'd never heard of them. But they've been used by police officers, prison guards, and even school resource officers for years. 

The device that ICE is acquiring is something called a GLOVE. This is not a glove as you and I might think of a glove. Something to wear when it's cold; something to wear when gardening; something to wear when slicing raw chicken. No, it's GLOVE as in an acronym for Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter. And don't let that "low output voltage" fool you. A GLOVE, especially in the wrong hands, can administer a shockingly painful shock.

GLOVE is produced by a Kentucky-based (surprise, surprise) outfit named Compliant Technologies

Our mission is to provide innovative, non-lethal solutions that empower law enforcement, corrections, security, and healthcare professionals to handle dangerous situations with confidence and control. (Source: Compliant Technologies)

Well, innovative can be a mixed bag - it doesn't always go hand-in-glove with wonderful/marvelous - but non-lethal sounds good. I'm a bit concerned about healthcare professionals as an audience. I know that people can flip out in a healthcare setting, and that patients can become violent, but aren't there de-escalation methods that don't involve shocking someone, which seems like a particularly awful choice in certain environments. Like a hospital. Like a school.

Interesting, the value proposition for the product is not primarily about non-lethality. In fact, they lead with the technology's ability to lower liability.  

How so, you might ask.

Let's hear from Assistant Police Chief Adam Glueck of the Cape Giradeau, Missouri PD. 

“In today’s society, you know, everybody’s filming everything, everybody has a cell phone,” Glueck said. If an officer punches someone on camera, that can go viral in an instant; even a standard taser leaves puncture wounds. But “the glove is low optic, and it looks better on camera, and it looks better to those witnesses. With a glove, there are no burn marks or scars.” (Source: Mother Jones)

Glueck joked that “If I try to take away the gloves from those officers at this point I think we may have a mutiny on our hands." Oh, hah hah hah.

But having a "low optic" torture device, unlike a taser shooting out those treacherous darts, let alone a billy club applied with full force? Who wouldn't want one of those? Look, Ma: no burn marks, no scars. Lawsuit, smawsuit? Bring it! That video some misguided civilian took of the GLOVE'd individual writhing around on the ground in pain? Crisis actor! Fake news!

Glueck isn't the only gushing proponent of the GLOVE. Or to point out the beauty of GLOVEs-on when it comes to liability.

It’s been successful “from the patrolmen to the jailers,” Lumpkin County Sheriff Stacy Jarrard said in a Compliant Technologies promotional video. “It’s been a great tool as far as mitigating liability,” according to Nelson County Jailer Justin Hall. Bob Couey of the Floyd County Sheriff’s Department sung the GLOVE’s praises, too: “I highly recommend these gloves to anybody that’s looking for a utility they can use that is conducive to not leading to lawsuits.”

Lumpkn County, Georgia. Nelson County, Kentucky. Floyd County, Florida. 

Just sayin'. 

(Despite GLOVEs being positioned as anti-liability devices, there are at least a few lawsuits out there with respect to their use.)

Anyway, after hearing from the Boss Hoggs of the world, let's hear from the bleeding hearts:

The technology is unregulated “despite the clear human rights risks associated with its use,” Amnesty International researchers wrote in a 2025 report detailing instances in which electric-shock devices have been used for torture. The report ends with a recommendation that countries “cease use of, decommission and destroy any stockpiles of such prohibited electric shock weapons.” 

Worrying about "clear human rights risks" doesn't exactly seem to be ICE's jam.

And needless to say, I'm Team Amnesty International. 

Meanwhile, over at Compliant Technologies - recipient of that $20M of our tax money ICE contract - founder Jeff Niklaus sounds like a bit of a nutter:

...who believes that President Donald Trump has been “anointed” by God. He is also a sometime conspiracy theorist: In a podcast interview in 2025, he blamed the fatal crash of a passenger plane and a military helicopter on “the vaccines,” and on the Biden administration’s inclusion of women and LGBTQ people in the military.

If Trump were indeed anointed by God, well, I'd have to eat my halo. 

Some law enforcement agencies warn against using GLOVEs "against pregnant women, the elderly, or people in shackles." A GLOVE user guide advises not using it against "those with obvious health conditions." But, gee whiz, in the heat of battle, you can't always tell if someone is pregnant. Sure, I'm old and grey, but would someone necessarily clock me as elderly? (Okay, don't answer.) And what about non-"obvious health conditions?" The only thing that's clear about the must-avoid list would be someone placed in shackles, which is clearly visible. And which ICE seems to do with alarming frequency.

Not to worry:

“Our officers are highly trained in de-escalation tactics and regularly receive ongoing use of force training,” an ICE spokesperson told Mother Jones.

Alex Pretti and Renee Good might have something to say about that, if they were alive to say it.

I have no problem whatsoever with ICE rounding up baddies and shipping them back to from whence they came. Murderers, rapists, gang members, drug lords. So long, all of yez. And I know that when you're dealing with bad guys, sometimes you need to use force. But most of those who are being rounded up aren't bad guys. (Someone coming in for a meeting to talk about the progress of their greencard application is probably not a violent criminal.) And, as we've seen from countless videos, many of them are being brutalized. 

I can't wait for this nightmare to be over. 

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Image Source: Mashable