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General Handcuff Information
Handcuffs are restraint devices designed
to secure an individual's wrists close
together. They comprise two parts,
linked together by a chain, a hinge or
in the case of rigid cuffs, a bar. Each
half has a rotating arm which engages
with a ratchet that prevents it from
being opened once closed around a
person's wrist. Without the key, the
handcuffs cannot be removed and so the
handcuffed person is unable to move his
or her wrists more than a few
centimeters/inches apart, making many
tasks difficult or impossible. This is
usually done to prevent suspected
criminals from escaping police custody.
Handlock Styles
There are three distinct subtypes of
contemporary metal handcuffs: One in
which the cuffs are held together by a
short chain. One, of more recent origin,
which uses a hinge for this purpose
(since hinged handcuffs permit less
movement than a chain cuff, they are
generally considered to be more secure).
And another - the third type - the rigid
handcuff, which has a metal block or bar
between the cuffs.
Handcuffs may be manufactured from
various metals, including carbon steel,
stainless steel and aluminum, or from
synthetic polymers. Sometimes two pairs
of handcuffs are needed to restrain a
person with an exceptionally large
waistline because the hands cannot be
brought close enough together; in this
case, one cuff on one pair of handcuffs
is handcuffed to one of the cuffs on the
other pair, and then the remaining open
handcuff on each pair is applied to the
person's wrists. Oversized handcuffs are
available from a number of
manufacturers, as are juvenile-sized
restraints, though none of the latter in
current production are approved for use
by the United States National Institute
of Justice.
Double Locks Handcuffs with
double locks have a lock-spring which
when engaged stops the cuff from
ratcheting tighter to prevent the wearer
from tightening them. Tightening could
be intentional or by struggling; if
tightened, the handcuffs may cause nerve
damage or loss of circulation. Also some
wearers could tighten the cuffs to
attempt an escape by having the officer
loosen the cuffs and attempting to
escape while the cuffs are loose. Double
locks also make picking the locks more
difficult.
There
exist three kinds of double locks:
Lever lock
These are double-locked by fully lifting
the lever with a fingertip and then
allowing it to return. This causes the
lock spring to move into a position that
locks the bolt thus preventing the cuff
from being further tightened. Thus no
tool is required to double lock this
type of cuff.
Push pin lock
These are double-locked by fully
depressing the push pin using the small
peg on the top of the key. This causes
the lock spring to move into a position
that locks the bolt thus preventing the
cuff from being further tightened.
Slot lock
These are double-locked by inserting the
small peg on the top of the key into the
double lock slot. In this position, the
small peg can contact the end of the
lock spring. The key is then slid
towards the key hole. This causes the
lock spring to move into a position that
locks the bolt, thus preventing the cuff
from being further tightened.
Handcuff Keys
Most modern handcuffs in Canada, the
United States, the United Kingdom and
Latin America can be opened with the
same standard universal handcuff key.
This allows for easier transport of
prisoners and keeps one out of trouble
if one loses one's keys. However, there
are handcuff makers who use keys based
on different standards. Maximum security
handcuffs require special keys. Handcuff
keys usually do not work with thumbcuffs.
The Cuff Lock handcuff key padlock uses
this same standard key. In addition to
the Universal handcuff key, a few
modified designs exist, including a key
that has been molded to fit behind an
officer's badge (colloquially known as
"The New York Tuning Fork" (U.S Patent
607,305) It was invented by Michael
Anthony Stahl, the very first and only
such device ever to be designed for and
licensed to a municipal police
department, The New York City Police
Department.
Hand positioning
Old handcuffs In the past, police
officers typically handcuffed an
arrested person with his or her hands in
front, but since approximately the
mid-1960s behind-the-back handcuffing
has been the standard. The vast majority
of police academies in the United States
today also teach their recruits to apply
handcuffs so that the palms of the
suspect's hands face outward after the
handcuffs are applied. The Jacksonville,
Florida Police Department, the Los
Angeles County Sheriff's Department and
others are notable exceptions, as they
favor palms-together handcuffing. This
helps prevent radial neuropathy or
handcuff neuropathy during extended
periods of restraint. Suspects are
handcuffed with the keyholes facing up
(away from the hands) to make it
difficult to open them even with a key
or improvised lock-pick.
Hinged handcuffs applied behind the
back, with palms facing outwards.
Because a person's hands are used in
breaking falls, being handcuffed
introduces a significant risk of injury
if the prisoner trips or stumbles, in
addition to injuries sustained from
overly tight handcuffs causing Handcuff
Neuropathy. Police officers having
custody of the person need to be ready
to catch a stumbling prisoner. As
soon as restraints go on, the officer
has full liability. The risk of the
prisoner losing balance is higher if the
hands are handcuffed behind the back
than if they are handcuffed in front;
however, the risk of using fisted hands
together as a weapon increases with
hands in front.
Some prisoners being
transported from custody to outside
locations, for appearances at court, to
medical facilities, etc., will wear
handcuffs augmented with a belly chain.
In this type of arrangement a metal,
leather, or canvas belt is attached to
the waist, sometimes with a locking
mechanism. The handcuffs are secured to
the belly chain and the prisoner's hands
are kept at waist level. This allows a
relative degree of comfort for the
prisoner during prolonged internment in
the securing device, while providing a
greater degree of restriction to
movement than simply placing the
handcuffs on the wrists in the front.
Escaping from Handcuffs
Since handcuffs are only intended as
temporary restraints, they are not the
most complicated of locks. This is why
escaping from handcuffs is a common
stunt performed by magicians or skilled
criminals, perhaps most famously Harry
Houdini.
There are ways of escaping from
handcuffs:
1.slipping hands out when the hands are
smaller than the wrist
2.lock picking
3.releasing the pawl with a shim
4.or simply opening the handcuffs with a
duplicate key, often hidden on the body
of the performer before the performance.
The above methods are often used in
escapology. As most people's hands are
larger than their wrists, the first
method was much easier before the
invention of modern ratchet cuffs, which
can be adjusted to a variety of sizes.
Modern handcuffs are generally ratcheted
until they are too tight to be slipped
off the hands. However, slipping out of
ratchet cuffs is still possible. During
his shows, Harry Houdini was frequently
secured with multiple pairs of
handcuffs. Any pair that was too
difficult to be picked was placed on his
upper arms. Being very muscular, his
upper arms were far larger than his
hands. Once he had picked the locks on
the lower pairs of handcuffs, the upper
pair could simply be slipped off.
It is also technically possible to break
free from handcuffs by applying massive
amounts of force from one's arms to
cause the device to split open or loosen
enough to squeeze one's hands through;
however, this takes exceptional strength
(especially with handcuffs made of
steel). This also puts an immense amount
of pressure on the biceps and triceps
muscles, and when tried by suspects
(even unsuccessfully) can lead to
injury, including bruising around the
wrists, or tearing the muscles used
(including pulling them off their
attachments to the bones).
Another common method of escaping (or
attempting to escape) from being
handcuffed behind the back, is that one
would, from a sitting or lying position,
bring one's legs up as high upon one's
torso as possible, then push one's arms
down to bring the handcuffs below one's
feet, finally pulling the handcuffs up
using one's arms to the front of one's
body. This can lead to awkward or
painful positions depending on how the
handcuffs were applied, and typically
requires a good amount of flexibility.
It can also be done from a standing
position, where, with some degree of
effort, the handcuffed hands are slid
around the hips and down the buttocks to
the feet; then sliding each foot up and
over the cuffs. These maneuvers, and the
reverse (otherwise impossible) maneuver
of bringing the handcuffed hands up
behind the back and forwards over the
head and then down in front, can be done
fairly easily by some people who were
born without collarbones because of the
inherited deformity called cleidocranial
dysostosis. From this position, one has
a better chance of attempting to use a
tool (such as a shim or lockpick) to
work one's way out of the handcuffs.
Miscellaneous
Police handcuffs are sometimes used in
sexual bondage and BDSM activities. This
is potentially unsafe, because they were
not designed for this purpose, and their
use can result in nerve injury (Handcuff
Neuropathy) or other tissue damage.
Bondage cuffs were designed specifically
for this application. They were designed
using the same model of soft restraints
used on psychiatric patients because
they can be worn for long periods of
time. Many such models can be fastened
shut with padlocks.
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