Omaha Police Officer Jason Cvitanov, right, demonstrates the Compliant Technologies G.L.O.V.E. on Lt. Brendan O'Flynn at Omaha Police Headquarters in Omaha, Neb. on Friday, Aug. 14, 2026. (Nikos Frazier/Omaha World-Herald via Getty Images)
Police in Omaha, Nebraska, say they’ll stop carrying electric shock gloves in public schools there after outcry from parents and officials, but a nearby suburb says they’ll continue using the controversial gloves.
The decision, which impacts most Omaha middle and high schools, came after The Associated Press first reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to give ICE agents the gloves.
Electric shock gloves spark controversy
The backstory:
The gloves are known as G.L.O.V.E.s or Generated Low Output Voltage Emitters, and police say they can help an officer quickly get control of someone who is refusing commands. The devices have also been used in recent years by some jails.
In 2025, Omaha police agreed to pay Compliant Technologies LLC, which manufactures the gloves, about $66,000 for 40 gloves. Most of the Omaha Police Department’s 34 school resource officers had been trained and were allowed to use the gloves.
In the 2025-2026 school year, an Omaha officer used the glove in one case to stop a high school student from another school from trying to escape after fighting with a security guard. In a second case, the glove was used on a student at the Omaha district’s Integrated Learning Center for special education students. Police said that student made verbal threats and threw a chair at a school security guard, striking the guard in the head. The student also punched the guard in the head, according to the statement.
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School district asks police to stop using them
Omaha Superintendent Matthew Ray requested that school resource officers stop using the gloves. Omaha Police agreed, but the suburban Bellevue police department that patrols two Omaha schools and the large Bellevue district said its officers will continue carrying the gloves.
Three other large school districts in the metro area that have Omaha school resource officers assigned to their buildings have not taken action to stop police from using the devices.
What they're saying:
"I can’t even imagine walking down the hallway and seeing a peer of mine being electrocuted in a place that is supposed to be a safe space for students," Nora Wessel, a senior at Omaha Central High School, told The Associated Press. "Yet, this is now a very real possibility. These are adults we are supposed to be able to trust, but these weapons create a barrier for our students to turn to resource officers when needed."
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Ken Trump, president of the consulting firm National School Safety and Security Services, warned that "less than lethal doesn’t mean low risk."
The Source: This report includes information from The Associated Press.