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Parents Demand Answers After Police Use Shock Gloves on School Students
Omaha police are facing growing scrutiny after two students were shocked with electric gloves during the 2025-26 school year. One incident involved a student in an Omaha Public Schools special-education program. The issue erupted publicly at an OPS board meeting on August 17, where parents, students and community members demanded answers about why the devices were available to school resource officers and how their use was authorized.
The G.L.O.V.E., developed by Compliant Technologies LLC, sits on a table after a demonstration at the Oklahoma County Detention Center in Oklahoma City, March 22, 2023. BRETT DICKERSON / OKLAHOMA CITY FREE PRESS VIA AP
A piece of police equipment normally associated with high-risk encounters has become the center of a controversy inside Omaha schools.
The Omaha Police Department has acknowledged that its school resource officers used electric shock gloves twice during the 2025-26 school year, including once on a student enrolled in an OPS middle-school special-education program.
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The details of those incidents only became public as parents and community members began questioning the department's use of the devices in schools.
According to Omaha police and city officials, one incident occurred at Omaha South High School and involved a person who was not a student there. The second involved a student at an OPS middle school participating in an Integrated Learning Program, a setting serving students with behavioral needs.
Police say the special-education incident involved a student who had threatened a security officer, thrown a chair that struck the officer in the head and punched the officer in the head.
The officer first activated the glove for approximately one second, then activated it again for roughly two to three seconds, according to the account presented by police.
The other incident involved an individual fighting with a security guard at Omaha South High School.
Police said the glove was activated for approximately two seconds in that encounter.
OPD says the gloves are intended as another option for dealing with people who are actively resisting after officers have attempted verbal commands and de-escalation.
The department says the purpose is to gain compliance while potentially avoiding more serious force. School resource officers at 29 Omaha-area schools have access to the devices.
That explanation has done little to quiet the controversy.
On August 17, dozens of parents, students and community advocates addressed the Omaha Public Schools board, questioning why electric shock devices were available to officers working inside schools.
Former student Nick Koehler even challenged officers at the meeting to demonstrate the gloves on him, illustrating how heated the debate had become.
The controversy also involves an important question about responsibility.
The gloves are Omaha Police Department equipment, not equipment purchased or issued by Omaha Public Schools, according to reporting from local outlets. The police department, rather than the school district, controls the equipment and its deployment.
Police argue that the gloves occupy a place within a broader use-of-force framework and can provide an alternative to more dangerous options.
Critics, however, question whether any electrical compliance device should be available to officers dealing with children, particularly students receiving special-education services.
That question is likely to become more important as schools continue using police officers as school resource officers.
The controversy is not limited to Omaha. Bellevue Police Department also uses the same type of gloves, although its documented uses this year have not involved school resource officers.
The devices therefore represent part of a broader debate over how American police departments should use emerging less-lethal technologies, especially when officers are working around minors.
For Omaha, the immediate issue is now transparency.
Parents want to know when officers can use the gloves, what safeguards exist, who reviews each deployment and whether special rules apply when the person involved is a child.
The Omaha Public Schools board meeting on August 17 brought those questions into the open.
What happens next could determine whether the gloves remain part of Omaha's school-security equipment or become the subject of new restrictions.
Editor's Note: The two confirmed deployments occurred during the 2025-26 school year and were not reported as routine disciplinary actions. Police say both incidents involved physical resistance or attacks against security personnel. The special-education case involved allegations that the student had attacked a security officer. The debate now centers on whether the devices are an appropriate use-of-force option in schools and what safeguards should govern their use against minors.
