Red state schools demand police ditch electric-shock gloves used on students

The largest school district in Nebraska has told police to stop carrying electric shock gloves, the same kind the Trump administration plans to buy.

According to a Saturday article by The Guardian, Omaha Public Schools Superintendent Matthew Ray requested that school resource officers stop using the electric-shock gloves. The Omaha police agreed two days later.

The move followed reporting that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) planned to issue officers the same devices, known as "generated low output voltage emitter" (GLOVE), which have also been used in some jails in recent years, according to The Guardian.

The gloves activate when an officer presses a button and must touch skin directly to deliver a shock intended to make people stop resisting. Officers were expected to warn a person first, then touch them for up to 15 seconds while the current ran, according to a statement from the Omaha Police Department.

Omaha police used the gloves twice during the 2025-26 school year, including once on a student at a learning center for special education students, according to The Guardian.

At an August 17 school board meeting, roughly 30 people spoke against the practice and none in favor, The Guardian reported.

"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, said. "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."

Ray said that continued use of the gloves "would be counterproductive to our work together." But other districts are holding firm. The police chief from Bellevue, Nebraska, Ken Clary, said his officers will keep the gloves.

"I am not comfortable having our officers give up a tool that has repeatedly proven to be safe, effective and less harmful than the alternatives," Clary said in a statement.

Ken Trump, president of National School Safety and Security Services, urged caution before schools adopt such technology. "Less than lethal doesn't mean low risk," he told The Guardian.