Control Your Detainee with Hand Cuffs

The police and other law enforcement agencies are often in the position of taking suspected law breakers in to custody. When an officer needs to detain someone, either temporarily or after being placed under arrest, the first thing they reach for are their hand cuffs.

Hand cuffs come in a variety of styles and are made of various types of metal. They also are made to shackle the legs (referred to as leg cuffs or leg shackles) when more restraint is needed. The key factors that goes in to the design of good hand cuffs are strength, degree of difficulty in a detainee's ability to defeat their purpose, size and restrictive nature. Most hand cuffs do a good job of restraining the detainee. There are different price points for those made of different metals like polished nickel, stainless steel or carbon steel.

Four of the major companies that manufacture the restraints for use by the police, military and other law enforcement agencies are Hiatt, Thompson, Smith and Wesson and Peerless. Each has a full line of hand cuffs and other restraining products. Below is a brief description of some of their tried and true cuffs.

Hiatt
Hiatt makes a standard steel pair of hand cuffs that are an excellent, basic restraint. Made of Steel with a nickel coating, they feature a standard double locking mechanism and have a smooth closing action. Manufactured to exceed all test standards, each pair has a unique serial number and comes with 2 keys.

Thompson
Thompson makes a model called Big Brutus which can be used both as wrist cuffs and also as leg cuffs. It is extra large to acccomodate detainees with extra large wrists and its size allows it to fit over most ankles when the need for leg restraints may arise. The Big Brutus is made with a side double lock to keep out dirt and grime that could interfere with the locking mechanism. It has reinforced swivels for strength and comes with a 15 inch hardened chain.

Smith and Wesson
The model 1850 Transport Restraint S and W is designed for transporting suspects or prisoners safely from point A to point B. They are a combination of hand cuffs and leg cuffs and are connected by a 32 inch hardened steel chain. The cuffs are made of the finest carbon steel and the internal mechanisms are heat treated for aditional strength to prevent tampering. These cuffs exceed all of the US National Institute of Justice's tests for workmanship, corrosion and tamper resistance.

Peerless
One of the restraints made by Peerless is the Hinged Handcuffs Black Model 801. Their hinged design provides more restrictive hand and arm movement than chain linked cuffs. They are made of all steel construction, have machined edges and a smooth, single strand action. A nice feature is that they can fold flat for storage. The cuffs include 2 keys.