DHS Plans $20 Million ICE Shock-Glove Purchase as Lawsuits Spotlight 40-Shock Death
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Aug 24
DHS Plans $20 Million ICE Shock-Glove Purchase as Lawsuits Spotlight 40-Shock Death
2 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Aug 24
Summary
$20 million in DHS spending plans would equip ICE officers with electric-shock gloves by March, expanding a device that civil-rights advocates say lacks adequate oversight in immigration enforcement.
324-to-380-volt G.L.O.V.E. devices deliver shocks through direct contact and require training; DHS said the gear is being reviewed to help officers safely arrest and remove criminal illegal aliens.
40 alleged glove-and-Taser shocks preceded one Kentucky detainee's death, while another wrongful-death suit says a man was shocked 27 times with the glove and 13 times by a Taser before cardiac arrest.
About 50 police departments in 20 states use the technology, but Omaha last week dropped it from its public schools after an officer shocked a middle-school student twice, causing him to fall face down.
The planned ICE rollout would bring a little-used force tool into federal immigration operations even as lawyers and advocates question its practicality, training demands and risk of abuse in detention and street arrests.