‘Fascist Country’: Activists, Educators Air Anti-Police, Anti-American Rhetoric During Heated OPS Meeting
by Lewis Thune
(Picture credit OPS)
OMAHA — The Omaha Public Schools Board of Education accepted nearly two hours of public comments Monday night after an August 12 NPR story revealed that the Omaha Police Department made electric shock gloves available to School Resource Officers.
The Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter (G.L.O.V.E.) is a Compliant Technologies product capable of delivering a momentary shock of over 300 volts, roughly a third of the shock delivered by a police taser. A report included in the 2025 city resolution that acquired 40 G.L.O.V.E.s for use of the Omaha Police Department states that “the desired result of the GLOVE is to cause a distraction to the peripheral nervous system,” allowing the officer to properly control the subject.
OPD and Omaha Mayor John Ewing confirmed in a public statement that 29 of OPD’s 34 school resource officers are trained and authorized to use the gloves, and that they had been employed twice in the previous school year to detain violent students.
In the first case, a trespassing student was attempting to flee the premises of Omaha South High School after getting in an altercation with a security guard. In the second, an Integrated Learning Program student had struck a security guard in the head and thrown a chair at him.
The statement also stated the protocol for G.L.O.V.E. usage:
“When a serious situation calls for compliance, an officer must follow G.L.O.V.E. protocol that includes verbal commands and a warning. An officer then puts one G.L.O.V.E. on their hand for skin-to-skin contact. An electric shock ranging from 324 to 362 volts is administered in duration of one second up to 15 seconds. Once compliance is gained, the GLOVE is shut off or placed in standby mode.”
However, the news that such technologies were employed in schools – and the news that such a fact came as a surprise to Omaha Public Schools – brought 29 different Omaha residents to the OPS Board of Education to demand answers.
Public Response
All those in attendance spoke against the use of the gloves or use of force in general by SROs, with many arguing for alternatives, and some calling for security officers to be removed from OPS.
“If you truly care about kids, you will enact a moratorium tonight on the use of these gloves and the use of any other systems of force that are being used within our schools by SROs” said one speaker, who identified himself as a public educator.
“This punishment teaches what is not acceptable and kids just kind of have to figure out what is acceptable by trial and error. It does not teach emotional regulation, conflict resolution, communication, or any of the other skills folks have talked about” said another.
Kathy Poehling of the Omaha Education Association argued for vast increases in preventative measures.
“Our schools need safety solutions that prevent crisis not simply more tools to respond after a crisis has already occurred,” she said.
Liz Renner of the State Board of Education appeared during the public comment to ask the OPS board to re-evaluate the SRO model entirely in favor of focusing on “restorative, constructive, and edifying practices.”
Another attendee took issue with the existence of SROs and OPD as a whole.
“The very fact that we have SROs, as has been pointed out, period – it’s insane, like we are, like – let’s just face it: America is a fascist country. This is just, you know, another manifestation of that. It’s always been a fascist country... why are we having a contract with a fascist organization?”
Others argued the use of the gloves was racially motivated – the NPR report that drew attention to OPD’s use of the technology was about Immigrations and Customs Enforcement outfitting their agents with the gloves.
“These aren’t gloves, these are 2026 whips,” said one man. “Our community had been targeted and murdered by Klansmen, and these Klansmen are hired onto our local forces – they love these jobs. And now weaponized electrical tools are being turned on our children and our immigrant brothers and sisters.”
Former City Council candidate and socialist activist Anthony Rogers-Wright stated OPS had no business using tools employed by ICE, which he called “a rogue, white supremacist, and murderous law agency.”
He praised New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani by name and recommended Omaha follow the NYC model swapping “resource officers” for “safety agents” trained with an abolitionist toolkit.
OPS Response
While many board members voiced similar concerns to those in attendance, the hour-long comments from the board following the two-hour public comments mainly focused on the board’s frustration that they were never informed that shock gloves were in use.
“I would like to reiterate that this board had no knowledge prior to a few days ago of the electric shock gloves all over the news being actively used or even present in our schools,” said Gini Magnuson. “I would like to examine our SRO agreements and discuss excluding use of force devices from being used on students.”
“I learned about this information on Thursday,” said Bri Full. “If there was a vote tonight on the use of these gloves and the use of force with tasers, with OC spray, with batons, I would vote absolutely not.”
Viridiana Almanza Zavala seemed to agree with the principal opposition to use of force.
“I don’t want our response to student crisis or conflict to default to a tool capable of causing pain,” she said. “I would rather invest in solutions: in prevention, deescalation, social workers, and mental health practitioners in every OPS school.”
She also endorsed the race and immigration angle.
“I cannot ignore the broad context in which this conversation is occurring, including the proposed use when it comes to immigration enforcement. For some of our immigrant families and mixed-status families, that context creates real fear.”
As to whether OPS bore any responsibility in the matter, it was Kimara Snipes who first expressed that she took equal discouragement at OPS’ ignorance than OPD’s action.
“OPD must answer for its policies, equipment, and officers. And OPS, we gotta answer for the environment, agreements, and procedures that allow those officers to operate inside our schools. Our responsibility doesn’t begin after force is used.”
Snipes said the board was actively pursuing answers as to who knew about the two instances where the gloves were used, and whether that information ever reached the superintendent or OPS administration.
“Even though we didn’t know, we still have a responsibility,” Shavonna Holman said. “Rest assured that we will do our jobs… please know that we are asking all the questions.”
Superintendent Matthew Ray appeared to agree with Snipes and Holman that OPS bore responsibility in this case.
“The board did not know this because I didn’t know. I take responsibility for that as the leader of the organization, of Omaha Public Schools, that this information didn’t get to the board, and I’m ultimately responsible for that,” he said.
After three hours, the board at last moved to its consent agenda for the meeting. While said agenda for the night did not include any items regarding OPD or the gloves, they committed to keeping the conversation alive in the upcoming weeks and in their impending contract discussions with OPD.
— Lewis Thune is a writing fellow with The Plains Sentinel.