The Painful Truth of Exactly How ICE’s New Shock Gloves Work

With the revelation that ICE will spend up to $20 million by March on gloves that can deliver painful electric shocks to subdue an individual, according to a notice published earlier this week by the Department of Homeland Security, it's worth looking at how this apparel, designated as a non-lethal tool for law enforcement, actually works.

These shock gloves go by the unsubtle acronym of GLOVE (Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter), and are manufactured by Compliant Technologies, based in Lexington, Kentucky. The GLOVE, previously used in jails and police departments in the US, looks and functions like a normal pair of patrol gloves until officers press a switch to activate an electrical mode.

Classified as a CD3 (Conductive Distraction and De-escalation Device), the gloves don't work like stun guns or Tasers, which shoot out probes or use high voltages to cause neuromuscular incapacitation that overrides the central nervous system. Instead, the GLOVE works using Neuro-Peripheral Interference (NPI), essentially shocking the skin to bombard the sensory nerves and temporarily short-circuit the brain's focus.

Compliant Technologies did not respond to WIRED's request for comment.

When activated via a one-second press on a wrist switch, conductive pads embedded on the palm and undersides of the fingers of the gloves can transmit high-frequency electrical pulses directly to the wearer’s point of contact on a subject. A rechargeable battery and microprocessor module tucked inside a zippered pouch on the cuff powers the entire system.

The electrical pulse overstimulates nerve endings in the subject's peripheral nervous system, resulting in pain that inhibits coordinated muscle movement, but without causing systemic muscle lockup. The pain induced is localized to just the area touched by the glove's conductive pads. The manufacturer claims the gloves result in a subject's compliance in less than three seconds and leave no burns, marks, or scars.

Because the current flows only between the contact pads on the device and across the subject's skin, the officer wearing the GLOVE, as well as any assisting officers holding the subject, should not feel electrical shocks. The gloves, capable of operating between 14 and 122 degrees Fahrenheit, come in three versions: Gen 3, 4, and 5. Maximum voltage is capped at 380 V for all, and the minimum voltage for Gen 3 and 4 is 210 V, which rises to 324 V for Gen 5.

Maximum stimulation time on Gen 3 and 4 models is a sobering two hours, though that drops to 90 minutes for Gen 5. The battery is apparently good for 2,000 charge/discharge cycles, and can recharge to full in 2 hours. Four LED lights on the gloves display the current charge level, each noting 25 percent battery increments.

Gen 4 and 5 of GLOVE both include mechanisms that record “activation events,” tracking the date, hour, minute, and skin contact time for audit trails and after-action reporting. Gen 4 stores this data on a removable microSD card, while Gen 5 does away with this in favor of built-in internal memory, accessed via a USB-C cable.

There's a test function on the gloves, too, where operators can verify they are working by tapping an active pad against their own forearm to feel a minor electrical pulse. According to the manuals, GLOVE users must be certified and then recertified every other year to continue using the device.

GLOVE, which can only be sold to verified professional entities such as the military, correctional facilities, and law enforcement agencies—has some clear usage recommendations in Compliant Technologies' instruction manuals:

• No more than two GLOVE units (or, in other words, one pair) should be used simultaneously on a single subject.
• Continuous shocks should not exceed 15 seconds.
• Operators must target arms and legs, while strictly avoiding the head, face, throat, chest, and groin.
• The gloves should not be used on the elderly, young children, pregnant individuals, or people with severe disabilities.
• The technology must not be used to counter verbal defiance, as punishment, or for torture.