It was bad enough that they were bullies, thugs, and intimidators. They’re getting a new piece of gear that is just begging for (even more) trouble. We know these guys are undertrained (severely) and out of shape, and probably some are still failing background checks. Adding 10,000 new agents is still going to take a while. They get “thrown” out onto the streets in groups like gangs, and that’s exactly how they behave. But this? Oooo, this is bad. Respect to Raw Story:
An embattled federal law enforcement agency plans to spend millions on gloves that can deliver an electric shock, which is alarming critics. According to reporting by the Associated Press, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a notice that revealed it plans to spend $20 million on thousands of gloves for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents that deliver “painful electric shocks.” The notice described the electric gloves as “de-escalation gloves,” AP reported.
Wonderful. They can shock people. They will shock everyone they grab, no matter what they are doing. If they weren’t brutal enough already, now add this in? We’ve seen nothing except abuse from all of the ICE agents, new or not. It’s all snatch-and-grab, or lying that someone in a car was making them “fear for their lives”, which is its own special version of cruelty. One of the people who was killed was telling the agents they were trying to stop. Yep, still have those twitchy trigger fingers, dammit.
According to the AP, agents are expected to get the gloves in March. The gloves have also been used in recent years in jails and by police departments, the AP added. The devices are called Generated Low Output Voltage Emitters (GLOVE), and they’re made by the company Compliant Technologies. The founder and CEO of the company, Jeff Niklaus, responded to the AP’s request for comment by writing, “Unfortunately, we are unable to speak on this subject.” The shock delivered by the gloves feels “like a bee sting,” John Peters, the president of the Institute for the Prevention of In-custody Deaths, told the AP. “It’s immediate and sharp.”
Whoa. Good times (for ICE). Let’s hope they don’t use them on anyone with a heart condition. The possibility for mis-use for the gloves is incredible. We know most of ICE are morons. If Markwayne Mullin got permission to spend $20 million on these, how can they have any money left? Oh. Wait. Something in the Big Ugly Bill? Maybe? There was a bunch of money thrown their way, which we thought was to get 10 thousand new ICE “officers”. That was a disaster. We do know that Mullin is worse than Gnome … er, Noem was. Does he like the plane?
The news was met with condemnation and fear online, as ICE has already been in the headlines for fatal shootings, some of which involved protesters. //// “ICE plans to electrocute many more people it arrests,” warned David Bier, the director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute. “Sure wish they could be sued when they do it for no good reason.” //// Former GOP congressman Joe Walsh slammed the purchase, writing, “This fascist s— shouldn’t be happening in America.” //// “If ICE wasn’t sadistic enough, the agency plans to spend up to $20 million to give officers gloves that can deliver painful electric shocks,” posted immigrant advocate Thomas Kennedy. //// “Is this really necessary?” asked journalist Jonathan Saxon. //// “Is putting a live current in an officer’s hands during every confrontation de-escalation…or excessive force?” wondered online commentator Mario Nawfal. //// “The United States of Dystopia,” commented journalist Stephanie Grace.
As usual, the comments are the best part. The news about these gloves is horrible. They’re going to be misused. We know that. De-escalation or excessive force? Will someone in ICE get sued for using them? We probably couldn’t be that lucky, although more people are ready with their phones to record. That part actually seems to have made some of ICE chill out. The shootings, though- the “in fear for our lives” where ICE is lying about that fear may become commonplace. We *have* to be on our toes to catch any of it. Other people have been fearless with the recording (see: the bullsh!t death of Alex Pretti, where someone had a twitchy trigger finger), so unfortunately, we all need to be that way. Oh, by the way? They’re still wearing some sort of mask.
Now? Those asshats have been sadistic ever since the old ERO style work was abandoned in favor of the Stephen Miller approach. Being sadistic is a job requirement for ICE. This new ‘tool’ is being brought to bear to make it easier for them to dish out more suffering.