Arabic version: آيس تخطط لشراء قفازات تصعق بالكهرباء

According to BBC News, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers may soon be equipped with gloves that can deliver electric shocks during law-enforcement duties. A Department of Homeland Security note published on Monday said ICE plans to spend up to $20m (£14.8m) on the Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter, or GLOVE. DHS said a no-bid purchase contract could be published as early as Friday.

The devices can deliver up to 380 volts and up to 30 pulses per second after a user pushes an activation button. Built-in microprocessors record activation, and shocks can be delivered only when the gloves contact skin. The manufacturer, Compliant Technologies LLC, said it could not comment on the sale. Its website says the gloves do not cause injury and are used by many agencies.

DHS said the equipment would be used by officers and agents in Homeland Security Investigations, which targets transnational criminal organisations, and Enforcement Removal Operations, which arrests, detains and deports people who violate US immigration laws. The planned ICE purchase is believed to be the largest from Compliant Technologies to date.

A company user manual recommends avoiding use on elderly people, small children, pregnant women and the “severely handicapped”, and says another officer should be present to restrain the subject. Civil rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, expressed alarm. ACLU policing deputy director Jenn Rolnick Borchetta said giving immigration agents a concealed way to deliver pain could lead to more harm and less accountability.