White House border czar Tom Homan defended Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s plan to give officers gloves that deliver painful electric shocks, calling them a tool to help officers end confrontations without using deadly force.
Background
The plan has drawn intense criticism from civil rights groups, Democrats in Congress, and some use-of-force experts, who say ICE agents have been too quick to use force while carrying out President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration.
Homan argued the gloves could help avoid such encounters. He said they would give another less lethal option to ICE officers, similar to Tasers or pepper spray, for use in potentially violent situations on the streets and in detention facilities.
In Bardstown, Kentucky, Nelson County Jailer Justin Hall said Thursday that his agency began using the gloves four years ago to try to gain compliance when inmates are out of control. He said that, unlike Tasers, the shocks do not incapacitate people and make them fall or leave contact or burn marks.
Geoffrey Alpert, a criminology professor at the University of South Carolina who has written extensively about police use-of-force and tactics, said the devices should be studied more broadly to ensure departments have proper guidance on when and how they should be used.
Original reporting: Alexandria, VA News – WTOP News — read the source article.
