A device that shocks individuals with more than 300 volts of electricity when applied to their skin is being used by law enforcement agencies across Virginia.
The Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter — or G.L.O.V.E. — is produced by Kentucky-based Compliant Technologies, which earlier this year contracted with the federal government to supply U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers with the device. The deal sparked concern among Congressional Democrats — despite the more widely used Taser outputting a higher electrical current.
A U.S. Army study, recently unearthed by The Associated Press, explained how the electrified glove works: “The electric jolt does not cause the body to freeze like a Taser shock does, but instead ‘works by overloading the peripheral nerve endings’ of the skin to cause pain … .”
At least 7 regional jails and Sheriff’s departments in Virginia are using Compliant weapons, according to social media posts, now-deleted information on the Compliant website and documents obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests.
Jeff Niklaus, Compliant’s founder and CEO, said he works with more than 40 agencies in Virginia, but declined to share a list of departments.
Multiple members of two Virginia Sheriff’s offices were also listed on a Compliant “References” page as recently as September. But as Radio IQ began requesting interviews with local agencies about the G.L.O.V.E., the page was removed. Screen shots and an archive of the site retain the information.
Niklaus said the page was taken down because people included on the list were being harassed by the public — though he didn’t say who’d contacted him about the unwanted emails and phone calls.
He also explained how the references page was put together.
“They're selected just because of the fact that they're a customer of ours and they willingly said, ‘Yeah, I'll be glad to tell people about your product,” Niklaus said. “We didn't pay anybody to be a reference, just the fact that they believe in our technology and they’re willing to share that with the other agencies because of the success they've had with it.”
The now-deleted page showed work numbers and emails of five Virginia law enforcement officers, including Newport News Sheriff Gabe Morgan, who didn’t respond to multiple emails requesting an interview. Two members of the Norfolk Sheriff's Department were also listed.
“Norfolk Sheriff’s Office employees do not endorse products,” spokesperson Jamie Bastas wrote in an email. “We were unaware, prior to your FOIA and emails, that their names were listed on the website. We appreciate you bringing this to our attention.”
Bastas estimated a cost of $737.39 to release emails between Sheriff’s office employees and Compliant.
The Norfolk office recorded 117 use-of-force incidents involving Compliant Technologies products between 2020 and the end of August 2026. At the Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail, the company’s devices were referenced in 48 use-of-force reports during about the same time period. The jail, located in Williamsburg, declined to release those records.
Documents obtained from other departments across the state — including the Newport News Sheriff's Office, and the Northern Neck and Western Virginia regional jails — show that equipping and training staff with the G.L.O.V.E. has cost each office thousands of dollars.
Another invoice shows the Henrico County Sheriff’s Department spent at least $232,000 on Compliant gear and training since 2024.
Sgt. L. D. Logan, a Henrico Sheriff’s department employee, also wrote a recommendation for the company on county letterhead. The letter was previously posted to Compliant’s website, but was removed.
“Most notably, we have observed a reduction in staff injuries and a decrease in extended use-of-force incidents,” Logan wrote in the letter.
Other emails show a Compliant employee asking Logan, who didn’t respond to multiple emails seeking comment, to provide reference letters to the Philadelphia police and the Washington, D.C., corrections departments.
A county policy limits the use of “Conductive Electrical Weapons” on in-custody individuals to 15 seconds and disallows use on “females known to be pregnant,” children, the elderly and people who are handcuffed.
Since 2024, Henrico Sheriff’s employees activated the G.L.O.V.E. more than 17,000 times. About 800 of those ran longer than the department allows, according to event reports. Some ran 1,528 and 6,498 seconds — but are likely accidental activations.
Sheriff Alisa A. Gregory wrote that no department employees have been investigated or disciplined for misuse of the G.L.O.V.E., nor has anyone held at the two county jails been injured by the device.
“The CEW GLOVE printout included data reflecting various types of activity, including training periods, periods when the device was on and idle, and events that may have been recorded as shock deliveries. Some recorded events may have resulted from the glove rubbing against or coming into contact with an object,” Gregory wrote in an email. “Additionally, there may have been instances in which a deputy closed or clenched their fist, and the glove interpreted that movement as a shock-delivery event. Accordingly, the events reflected on the printout do not necessarily establish that each recorded shock event presented an intentional delivery of a shock to a person.”
Niklaus, Compliant’s founder, later added that the records were intended to be used in concert with other documentation, like officer reports and bodycam footage.
Seth Stoughton — a former police officer who attended the University of Virginia School of Law and is currently faculty director of the Excellence in Policing and Public Safety Program at the University of South Carolina — called Henrico’s explanation for the activations “problematic.”
“That discharge data is, in part, a check on the way officers describe the incidents. … But body-worn camera footage, especially when we're talking about close range like with a G.L.O.V.E., is probably going to be pretty limited [in] value,” Stoughton said. “The way that they're describing the data is essentially, ‘There's no real useful information here because we can't distinguish between actual uses-of-force and things that aren't uses-of-force.’”
Disclosure: AI was used to convert two Henrico County event report PDFs into spreadsheets.