By Rosalio Ahumada
The Sacramento Bee
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sacramento County Sheriff Jim Cooper on Thursday hosted a news conference to demonstrate Taser-like shock gloves, which are the focus of a proposed California law seeking to ban the electroshock devices that the Trump administration wants to put in the hands of its federal immigration agents.
“I read an article probably three weeks ago about ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) or the federal government buying them and all of a sudden they want to ban it now,” Cooper told reporters. “We talk about it all the time, deescalating with a lower level of force. And what they’re doing by trying to ban this glove that conducts electricity at a much lower voltage than the Taser; they’re making our job harder.”
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Cooper said the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office already spent $35,000 to purchase 10 shock gloves, along with 10 shock bands to be placed on an arm or a wrist. He said the Sheriff’s Office has the less-lethal shock devices and could put them out in the field for deputies to use as early as sometime next month, unless the California Legislature votes to ban the devices statewide.
“We don’t want to have to use force: batons, physical blows, Tasers, beanbag rounds, other less-lethal weapons,” the sheriff said. “(The glove) is less use of force that saves someone’s life.”
Cooper said he’s had the shock glove applied on him, and it absolutely hurts. But the sheriff said it’s a lower level of force.
Proposed California ban
Assemblymember LaShae Sharp-Collins, D- San Diego, introduced the proposed California ban on shock gloves last week as part of a wave of state legislation seeking to place limits on the conduct of federal agents in California amid President Donald Trump’s widespread immigration crackdowns, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
“Imagine your family, your friends, and loved ones, or even yourself being incapacitated by federal, state or local law enforcement who do not have the necessary training to ensure that you don’t suffer from adverse health effects due to being shocked,” Sharp-Collins said in a state Senate Public Safety Committee hearing.
California Assembly Bill 2760 would not allow law enforcement agencies in the state to purchase wearable electroshock devices, specifically the shock gloves, and would require agencies to update their use-of-force policies to reflect the ban.
Sharp-Collins said legislation banning the gloves was necessary to prevent possible harm. The state lawmaker said the gloves have not gone through adequate health and safety review for law enforcement use, the Chronicle reported.
Plan for ICE agents to use shock gloves
AB 2760 was introduced in the State Legislature last week after the Associated Press reported earlier this month that Trump Administration officials want to spend $20 million to purchase thousands of what they call thousands of “conductive distraction and de-escalation devices” for ICE agents to use.
The device is known as the G.L.O.V.E., which stands for Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter, and are manufactured by Compliant Technologies LLC of Lexington, Kentucky.
The AP reported that civil rights advocates expressed alarm at the plan, saying ICE agents already face criticism for their use of force with little oversight or accountability while enforcing Trump’s immigration crackdown.
At Thursday’s news conference, Sheriff’s Office Lt. Will Vernon participated in the demonstrations by having others apply the shock glove on him. He said the glove has to be activated and placed directly on a person’s skin for the shock to be effective.
Vernon said the glove would not be used on a person believed to be armed with a weapon; instead, it would be used on someone in close proximity who is unarmed and resisting being handcuffed. He said the Sheriff’s Office will have a robust training program for deputies to use the shock gloves, and they will not be used in a punitive manner.
“We’re not using them because we’re mad. We’re not using them because we want to hurt this person,” Vernon said. “We’re using them to get control of the person safely.”
Sheriff’s Office demonstration
In one demonstration, the shock from the glove forced Vernon to relent and to be pulled down to one knee. In another demonstration, the shock forced Vernon, who was face-down on the ground, to pull out his hands from beneath his stomach.
The person will continue to feel the shock as long as the activated glove remains in contact with the skin. Vernon said deputies, in accordance with the sheriff’s usage policy, will have to justify additional time the glove shocks the person.
“So like if you go past five seconds, you’ll need to be able to explain why you’re continuing to do that,” Vernon said about using the shock glove. “That might be easy to do if this person is still digging in their waistband, you can’t get their arms out and they’re just extremely motivated. You might have to go past that time, but you’ll have to be able to articulate why.”
Undersheriff Mike Ziegler said the policy for shock gloves and bands is the same policy for the use of Tasers. He also said the usage time on the shock gloves and bands is stored in data on the devices, so a deputy’s account of what happened can easily be verified examining the data.
In a scenario with a suspect resisting on the ground, Ziegler said you could have five or six deputies working to subdue the person who is resisting being handcuffed. He said it’s a “super common” scenario in law enforcement.
“And that turns into a lot of times punches, knees, kicks,” Ziegler told reporters. “It’s just violence that is necessary at the time, because we don’t have the proper equipment to use. But it’s really unnecessary when you have the proper equipment to use.”
Arm and wrist shock bands
The arm and wrist shock bands the Sheriff’s Office purchased would be used on an incarcerated defendant who has been violent in court or an inmate or suspect in custody being transported in a plane. Cooper said the shock bands are activated remotely by a deputy.
The sheriff said introducing a state ban at the last-minute in a “knee-jerk” reaction to the federal government makes no sense, considering the proposed California ban wouldn’t stop federal agents from using the shock gloves.
“We all want a safe outcome,” Coopers said. “We want everybody to go home, the individual that’s being taken into custody, as well as our officers.”
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