Inside ICE's Push For Electric-Shock Gloves And The Debate Over Their Use

Immigration and Customs Enforcement is preparing to equip its officers with a piece of equipment that looks like an ordinary patrol glove but can deliver electrical stimulation through conductive contacts in the palm of the glove.

The device, called the G.L.O.V.E. (Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter) is made by Kentucky-based Compliant Technologies. A Department of Homeland Security procurement notice seeks the devices under a potential no-bid contract worth between $10 million and $20 million, according to the notice, first reported by The Associated Press.

The proposed purchase has drawn criticism because the gloves are designed to create pain and distraction to gain compliance. Compliant Technologies' own material also places restrictions on their use, including warnings concerning children, pregnant women, elderly people and people who are severely handicapped.

DHS says it continually assesses the equipment its officers need to "safely arrest and remove" people and reviews technologies for compliance with law-enforcement policies and standards. It has not publicly explained what specific operational gap the G.L.O.V.E. is intended to fill.

What Is The G.L.O.V.E.?

The G.L.O.V.E. is designed to function like a patrol glove until an officer activates its electrical mode.

Compliant Technologies describes it as a "Conductive Distraction and De-escalation Device" that supplements an agency's existing force continuum. The company calls it a "Force Multiplier" intended to enhance an officer's effectiveness during hands-on encounters.

To activate it, an officer presses and holds a switch on the wrist for one second. Once activated, the device can provide electrical stimulation when its conductive contacts in the palm touch exposed skin.

The manufacturer calls the effect "Neuro Peripheral Interference", or NPI. It describes NPI as the overstimulation and disruption of signals transmitted through the peripheral nervous system, which it says triggers a reflexive response intended to make a person retreat from or stop the source of stimulation. That is the manufacturer's description of how the technology works.

The company says the stimulation occurs at the surface of the skin and that no electrical current enters the person's body. It also says the G.L.O.V.E. cannot penetrate clothing, hair, metal or fur, meaning direct contact with exposed skin is required.

The device has three operating states: active, standby and off. Holding the wrist switch for one second activates it; pressing the switch twice places it in standby; and holding it for three seconds switches it off manually. The manufacturer says the G.L.O.V.E. does not automatically switch off once activated, although the wearer can place it in standby or switch it off.

How Is It Different From A Taser?

Unlike a conventional conducted-energy weapon, which can deliver electrical pulses through deployed probes, the G.L.O.V.E. requires the officer to make direct physical contact with exposed skin.

Compliant Technologies positions it as a close-contact tool for situations involving weapons retention, handcuffing, escorting and other hands-on encounters.

There is also a practical difference in how the devices are carried. A TASER is a separate weapon that has to be drawn and deployed. The G.L.O.V.E. is worn as part of the officer's normal equipment and, according to the manufacturer, can remain active during a physical encounter.

The company's material says the conductive contacts are positioned in the palm rather than the fingers, allowing officers to carry out tasks such as cuffing and escorting without automatically triggering stimulation.

That feature is central to both the company's pitch and the criticism of the technology.

Why Does ICE Want It?

ICE has not publicly provided a detailed operational explanation for the proposed purchase.

DHS says it assesses the equipment officers need in the field and reviews technologies against law-enforcement policies and standards. But it has not specifically explained why it selected the G.L.O.V.E. or what operational problem it is intended to solve.

Compliant Technologies, however, sets out the intended role in its own material.

The company says the device enhances an officer's ability to go hands-on and can be incorporated into an agency's established force continuum. It says most agencies place the G.L.O.V.E. within or near their "Soft Empty Hand or Mechanical" force options.

It also calls the device a "Force Multiplier" and says it can give officers an additional means of gaining compliance during physical confrontations.

The public record, however, does not establish that ICE has identified a specific operational gap that only the G.L.O.V.E. can address.

What Does The Manufacturer Warn?

Compliant Technologies presents the G.L.O.V.E. as a non-lethal and non-injurious device. It says that since the introduction of its CD3 technology in December 2018, there have been no documented injuries resulting from direct use and claims the devices leave no burns, marks or scars. Those are the manufacturer's safety claims.

Its user guidance nevertheless places restrictions on use, including warnings concerning small children, pregnant women, elderly people and people who are severely handicapped. The guidance also prohibits use for punishment, torture, horseplay or merely in response to verbal defiance.

Compliant Technologies says agencies receive training in CD3 use, with two-year recertification cycles. Its newer models also include event-recording capability, allowing information about activations to be downloaded.

The device's direct-contact requirement is another limitation. The company says CD3 technology requires exposed skin for effective contact. Its training material separately describes the device as operating at relatively low current levels.

What Happened In Earlier Cases?

The controversy is partly rooted in allegations surrounding previous uses of the technology.

The Associated Press reported on a pending lawsuit alleging that a 43-year-old man died in 2024 after being shocked 27 times with a G.L.O.V.E. and another 13 times with a TASER at a jail in Richmond, Kentucky.

According to court documents reviewed by AP, an internal investigation by the Madison County Detention Center found that two glove applications lasted 45 and 99 seconds — well beyond the manufacturer's recommended 15-second limit. The facility's internal investigation concluded that the applications caused unnecessary pain and increased the risk of serious health complications.

AP also reported on two other lawsuits alleging injuries involving G.L.O.V.E. use. One involved a man with heart problems who said he was shocked at a Las Vegas trade show. Another involved a defendant who alleged that he was unnecessarily shocked in court. Both cases were dismissed.

Those allegations do not, by themselves, establish the legal or medical cause of the injuries or death. They do, however, raise questions about whether recommended limits and safeguards are consistently followed when the device is used during real-world confrontations.

Compliant Technologies disputes those concerns and maintains that its CD3 technology is non-lethal and non-injurious and that it has no documented injuries from direct use of its devices.

Why Are Civil-Rights Groups Concerned?

For civil-rights groups, the concern is not simply that the gloves deliver electrical stimulation. Civil-rights groups argue that they could make painful force easier to apply during immigration encounters.

The ACLU reviewed and documented more than 1,200 ICE-related incidents across eight states in 2025. It identified 418 instances in which agents pushed, shoved, tackled or pinned people, and 81 instances involving tactics that could limit breathing. It also documented the use of Tasers and other forms of force.

Those findings do not establish that ICE would misuse the G.L.O.V.E. in the same way. They provide the broader context in which civil-rights groups are assessing another force tool being placed in immigration officers' hands.

Amnesty International UK and the Omega Research Foundation have taken a more direct position on the technology itself. In 2024, they documented a demonstration of the G.L.O.V.E. by The Squad Group, which markets itself as Compliant Technologies' UK and Ireland partner. Amnesty described the devices as direct-contact electric-shock weapons capable of delivering painful shocks and said the demonstration showed a volunteer police officer grimacing in pain.

Amnesty and Omega have argued that direct-contact electric-shock devices such as the G.L.O.V.E. are inherently abusive and can be used to inflict severe pain, particularly through repeated or prolonged shocks. Their assessment also places such equipment within the wider human-rights debate over torture and other ill-treatment.

Why Is The Technology So Controversial?

The disagreement is therefore not principally about whether the technology works. It is about where the threshold for using it should lie.

Compliant Technologies markets the G.L.O.V.E. as a non-lethal, humane and de-escalatory tool that gives officers another option during physical confrontations. Those are claims made by the manufacturer.

Amnesty and Omega see the technology differently, arguing that its direct-contact design makes it capable of inflicting pain through repeated or prolonged electrical shocks. Their concerns extend beyond the device's technical operation to how such equipment can be used in policing and detention.

ICE's own 2019 detention standards provide an official benchmark for judging any new force tool. They state that force should be used only after reasonable efforts to resolve a situation have failed, that staff should seek voluntary cooperation where possible, and that only the amount of force necessary to gain control should be used. They also prohibit force from being used as punishment.

The question now is whether those existing safeguards are sufficient for a technology designed to deliver painful electrical stimulation through direct physical contact.

What Happens Next?

ICE's proposed purchase could amount to between $10 million and $20 million under a potential no-bid contract. The procurement would make the G.L.O.V.E. a significantly larger part of the equipment available to immigration enforcement officers if the deal proceeds.

That is ultimately what makes the G.L.O.V.E. controversial. It is a force technology designed to remain on an officer's hand during an encounter, ready to deliver electrical stimulation through direct contact. For ICE, that makes it another tool for controlling difficult encounters; for its critics, it could lower the practical threshold for using painful force.

The debate over the gloves is therefore also a debate over the threshold at which immigration enforcement should use force, and how easily that threshold can be crossed.