Omaha's largest public school district stops officers from using electric shock gloves

Police officers at Omaha's largest public school district will no longer use gloves that can deliver painful electric shocks, after the superintendent asked to halt the program this week, the mayor said.

Omaha Public Schools Superintendent Matthew Ray requested Tuesday that police assigned to the schools, known as school resource officers, no longer use the gloves. Ray said in a letter to the public schools community that he’d only learned about the gloves the previous week. The first day of school was Wednesday.

The Omaha Police Department held a news conference last week in which it demonstrated the glove, saying it quickly achieved compliance and control with little to no force. The gloves were used twice during the 2025-2026 school year, police said.

The decision to stop using the gloves in middle and high schools came after The Associated Press first revealed that Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s plan to give officers these gloves , which are known as G.L.O.V.E. or Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter. The devices have also been used in recent years by some jails.

It was not immediately known if other school districts have used the gloves.

At a school board meeting Monday night, about 30 people spoke out against police using the gloves. Residents and board members alike said they were appalled at the practice. No one spoke in favor of it.

“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,” said Nora Wessel, a senior at Omaha Central High School. “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.”

Ray said the district recognized long-standing relationships with law enforcement partners and the important role school resource officers have in promoting school safety. Continued use of the gloves “would be counterproductive to our work together,” Ray said.

Mayor John Ewing Jr. said police have honored the school district's decision to “opt out.” The Omaha Police Department said officers will continue to carry tasers, batons, OC spray and firearms.

Most of the Omaha Police Department's 34 school resource officers had been trained and were allowed to use the gloves, the mayor and Police Chief Todd Schmaderer said in a statement.

“We believe it is the safest use-of-force option in the rare times when it is used,” the statement said.

In 2025, the city's police department agreed to pay Compliant Technologies LLC, which manufactures the gloves, about $66,000 for 40 gloves, according to the contract.

Officers were expected to give warning before using the gloves and then touch the person for up to 15 seconds while the electric shock was delivered, the statement said.

The devices activate when an officer presses a button. The gloves must touch someone’s skin directly to produce voltage that causes pain, which is intended to make people compliant if they are resisting. Unlike Tasers, they do not leave burn or contact marks.

In the 2025-2026 school year, an 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, according to the statement.

Omaha Public Schools is the largest district in Nebraska and serves more than 50,000 students, according to its website. ___ Hallie Golden contributed to this report from Seattle.