Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer and Mayor John Ewing provided new information Monday about the use of electric shock gloves by school resource officers.
The Omaha Police Department previously said the gloves had been deployed twice in the 2025-2026 school year on students. In a Monday joint statement, they elaborated on the circumstances of those two instances.
The first occurred when a student from a different high school who was trespassing at Omaha South High School, according to police. The glove was applied to his wrist for “approximately two seconds” for the purpose of detaining him as he attempted to flee after “fighting with a security guard.”
The second glove use occurred at the district’s Integrated Learning Program, described by Omaha Public Schools as a “specialized program for students with social, emotional, behavioral, and learning deficits.”
In that case, police said, the student made “verbal threats and threw a chair at the school security guard.” The chair hit the guard in the head, and police said the student also punched the guard in the head. The student was detained after the officer deployed the glove twice: The first time for about a second, and a second time for two to three seconds.
“We are constantly seeking ways to keep the public and police officers safe through innovations like G.L.O.V.E.,” the joint statement said. “We believe it is the safest use-of-force option in the rare times when it is used.”
The use of the gloves by school resource officers with the Omaha and Bellevue Police Departments came to light recently after Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced its intent to outfit its agents with the technology, which led to increased scrutiny nationwide.
The gloves are made by Compliant Technologies, a Kentucky-based company that provides nonlethal use-of-force options to law enforcement. Its official name is The G.L.O.V.E., which stands for Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter. It’s advertised as a “non-lethal and non-injurious” method to gain control of a subject through pain compliance.
Electric shock gloves carry less electricity than tasers. The gloves deliver electrical pulses directly to the skin, while tasers circulate an electrical current throughout a person’s body.
Twenty-nine of OPD’s 34 school resource officers have been trained to use the gloves. OPD’s school resource officers are stationed at schools in the Omaha, Elkhorn, Millard and Westside districts.
All school resource officers in Bellevue have been trained to use the gloves, Nebraska Public Media reported previously. Patrol officers in Bellevue also utilize the gloves.
The statement from Ewing and Schmaderer comes ahead of a Monday night meeting of the Omaha Public Schools Board and a Tuesday Omaha City Council meeting, both of which are expected to draw public comment on the use of the technology. The Omaha City Council approved the purchase of the gloves without public comment last year.
At least one member of the Omaha Public Schools Board said that she was not aware that the gloves were being used within the district until Aug. 13, when local media began to report on their use.
An Omaha Public Schools spokesperson previously referred questions to the Omaha Police Department.