- School resource officers from the Omaha Police Department removed shock gloves in Omaha Public Schools
- School resource officers from the Bellevue Police Department are keeping shock gloves in Omaha Public Schools
- Shock gloves remain in Westside Community Schools, Millard Public School and Elkhorn Public Schools
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) – Bellevue Police will keep shock gloves in 2 Omaha Public Schools buildings despite a district request to remove them.
Bellevue Police Chief Ken Clary addressed the decision in a statement Wednesday.
"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.
OPS asked all departments that provide on-campus officers – BPD, the Douglas County Sheriff's Office and the Omaha Police Department – to remove the shock gloves, made by Compliant Technology, from use. Omaha Police complied. Bellevue Police did not.
The controversy stems from two incidents in which Omaha Police officers used the gloves on students in OPS schools — on a middle school student at the Integrated Learning Center and on a high school student trespassing at Omaha South.
OPS Superintendent Matthew Ray said he was not aware the shock gloves had been used until last week.
3 News Now's Jeremy Fredricks asked Ray whether he should have been notified when a use-of-force incident involving a school resource officer occurred.
"Depends on the situation. There's so many things that happen during the school day. There's so many things that happen in our schools, in our high schools, in our middle schools. It depends on the situation," Ray said. "I can't say in an absolute in every situation that I need to be notified."
OPD also provides SROs to the Westside, Millard, and Elkhorn school districts. Officers are still carrying the shock gloves in all three districts, though spokespeople for those districts said officers have not used the gloves in their schools.
A Westside spokesperson said the district is continuing to investigate and learn more about the shock gloves before making any decision. A Millard Public Schools spokesperson said the district is planning to learn more from Omaha Police about the shock gloves.
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