New tech being deployed to make the compliance state more efficient. What could go wrong?
On August 10, the Department of Homeland Security announced plans to spend up to twenty million dollars on electric shock gloves for ICE officers.
The device, called the Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter or G.L.O.V.E., is made by Compliant Technologies of Lexington, Kentucky. When activated it delivers a painful shock when it touches bare skin.
ICE will be the first federal agency to have them.
The manufacturer’s manual warnings about the GLOVE are alarming: Never use it on someone who is merely arguing with you. Never use it on children, on pregnant women, on the elderly, or on the disabled. Never use it as punishment.
ICE enforces civil immigration law, and deportation is a civil matter.
In 2022, South Carolina charged two county jail officers with beating and shocking an inmate using this same device.
Last year, Omaha bought forty pairs for police officers stationed inside its public schools. Omaha PD confirmed Friday the gloves have been used twice — both times on students.
DHS calls the gloves “de-escalation devices.”
New tech being deployed to make the compliance state more efficient. What could go wrong?
Notes To My Future Self 