Jeff Niklaus
Role at the time: Founder and chief executive of Compliant Technologies, the maker of the G.L.O.V.E., in a company question-and-answer video
Response to this claim
ICE said in its August 2026 sole-source justification that the G.L.O.V.E. is a non-lethal, de-escalation device meant to reduce reliance on higher levels of force, and that ICE has no empty-hand use-of-force device to give its officers.
“We were never contacted by any legislator or agency within California. And at the end of the day, the people that are going to be hurt are the citizens of California and the law enforcement agencies because they're going to lose a tool that can help them. It's amazing to me that no other tools, the safest, most humane, deescalatory product probably ever to come along in our opinion is now taken off the table and no other technologies were whatsoever because of lack of knowledge and political bias in our opinion.”
A question-and-answer video posted to the Compliant Technologies YouTube channel on September 22, 2026, in which the company's founder and chief executive describes the company's products and answers a question about California's ban. The video is about 25 minutes long.
Why we used this label
Relative to the ban as applied to federal officers, the maker rejects the ban as the product of political bias and ignorance of the product and says Californians and agencies will lose a useful tool. The answer addresses the safety question and says nothing about California's power over federal officers. We used Condemned because he rejects the ban as unwise and uninformed. The closest competing label is Challenges the characterization, because he disputes how the gloves are viewed, but he goes on to reject the ban itself.