This is an interesting news article showing that care must be taken when handcuffing a suspect. Those suspects who are capable of acrobatics may be able to get free!<br
Louisville, Ky. (WHAS11) - A Louisville man made an acrobatic move and reportedly slipped out of his handcuffs and away from police Tuesday.

Police say 33-year-old Christopher Westmorleand was cuffed to a bench at the corrections center downtown.

He was able to get out his handcuffs because he is double jointed.

Police caught Westmoreland down the street in front of the courthouse.

He said he had nothing to lose by running.

He was arrested on domestic violence charges but now he faces a charge of escape.

This is a story out of South Carolina that everyone should pay attention to. A man pretending to be a police officer "arrests" and handcuffs a man.

Please let this be a lesson to you, do not trust that a non-uniformed "cop" is actually a cop. Demand to see their badge, ask questions, and if you still are not convinced drive to the nearest police headquarters.

Bogus Officer 'Arrests,' Handcuffs Man Disagreement Follows Flirtation With Man's Sister

What a story! This lady is one tough cookie, first she refuses to sign her ticket. Then she punches the cop in the stomach a number of times. Then after they handcuff her and put her in the police car, she wiggles free of the cuffs and throws them out the window!

Police: Woman, 80, Punches Cop, Throws Handcuffs

POSTED: 11:03 am EST March 7, 2008 UPDATED: 8:03 pm EST March 7, 2008

TAVARES, Fla. -- An 80-year-old woman went down swinging when a police officer tried to arrest her.

Let this be a lesson to all police officers! Just because you handcuff a suspect, don't think that will keep them in place!

Teen In Handcuffs On The Loose In Chatham Co.

Thursday, Mar 06, 2008 - 09:41 AM Updated: 11:38 AM

CHATHAM, N.C. -- A 16-year-old in handcuffs is on the loose near U.S. 1 in Chatham County, authorities said.

Here is a story from "The Land Down Under" about how they want to deal with people who don't pay their subway fare. Apparently they think the way to deal with them is to handcuff them!

Here is an interesting article that is basically discussing a new type of handcuffs that are a major improvement over the standard handcuff. Who knew that the handcuffs today are based on a design well over 100 years old?

How well do your handcuffs really work?

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Introducing the GOTCHA Restraint

Phase 1: Introduction

When a law enforcement or correctional officer places a pair of handcuffs on a subject, they normally assume that the subject is controlled or at least secured. We have a certain level of expectation that the subject who is in the handcuffs will not be able to escape. Yet time and time again we hear of the tragedy of a subject who has picked their handcuffs and killed the officers who were transporting them. What exactly are handcuffs supposed to do? What assumptions do we have of them?

Here is an interesting article from Africa, where the police have been made to explain their use of handcuffs. Apparently people are upset because women charged with the same crime as men often are not handcuffed, while men always are.

Interesting side note, I've been arrested and taken to jail before. Nothing more serious than a traffic offense, yet I was forced to be handcuffed. Had I see a woman arrested for the same traffic offense and not be handcuffed, I'd be quite pissed too. I wish our society would get the balls to question more police tactics and procedures, we could get some of our rights back that Bush took away.

Police explain the use of handcuffs

BAME PIET Staff Writer 4/13/2006 2:28:59 PM (GMT +2)

Botswana Police Spokesperson Superintendent Solomon Mantswe has said that police use handcuffs and leg irons on violent suspects. He was speaking in an interview after members of the public recently raised concern that female suspects were not handcuffed, even if they were suspects of the same offence as their male counterparts.

Police say the man was arrested and charged with three counts of assault, two of the alleged assaults were against police officers.

The Bell Street neighbourhood is well known to police as a hangout for prostitutes and drug dealers.

Pamela Connolly has lived in this area for seven years, and chairs a committee that deals with the security of her neighbourhood.

She defends the police.

"They have a very tough job, a very, very tough job. And they have responded with care and concern to the issues that we bring to them on a regular basis," Connolly says. An Ottawa man who says he saw police officers beating up a handcuffed man has filed an official complaint.

Eric McGinn says he couldn't sleep after witnessing the beating on Monday night.

"I was pretty certain he'd broken his jaw," McGinn says.

As he drove along Gladstone Avenue near Bell Street, McGinn says, he saw an Ottawa police officer smash a man in the face with his fist, even though the man was already in handcuffs.

"To assault a person who is defenseless must take a guy who is a real hero, eh! Like, this is disgusting," he says.

McGinn says he couldn't sleep the night of the incident. Today, he filed an official complaint with police.

Woman charged with assault, attempted escape after Saturday arrest

Monday, March 20, 2006

A woman assaulted a Frederick police officer early Saturday morning after she escaped from handcuffs in the back of the patrol car.

Lisa L. Maley, 33, of 5336 Bhines Road in Frederick, was charged with second-degree assault, attempted escape, attempted carjacking, reckless endangerment, possession of controlled dangerous substance and paraphernalia, driving under the influence and driving with a revoked license.

Posted on Thu, Mar. 02, 2006 FBI seeks help in catching bank robber known as `Lock Key Bandit'

WELLS FARGO OFFERING $100,000 REWARD IN CASE Mercury News

He is known to the FBI as the ``Lock Key Bandit,'' a gunman who has hit banks from San Jose to Santa Cruz by mysteriously slipping by locked bank doors to pull off his heists.

Now federal agents are seeking the public's help in capturing him, and Wells Fargo is offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.

The Lock Key Bandit last struck on Oct. 4, 2003, at a Wells Fargo branch, 360 N. Capitol Ave. in San Jose.

Before the bank opened, two workers were inside filling ATM machines with cash when they were surprised by a man with a semi-automatic handgun. He forced them into a vault and put flexible plastic handcuffs on them. He left with an undisclosed amount of money.

As agents investigated that case, they determined the same man was responsible for two similar robberies at Wells Fargo branches -- a Dec. 19, 1997, heist at 150 N. Santa Cruz Ave. in Los Gatos, and another on July 20, 2002, at 74 River St. in Santa Cruz.

In each case, the robber was inside locked banks before the doors were opened. It is unclear how he has been able to enter the building, agents said.

In every robbery, the suspect has used a semi-automatic pistol and a duffel bag to stash cash; used the same type of handcuffs; demanded entry to the vaults to get money; and demonstrated a deep understanding of banking procedures.

The FBI describe the suspect as a white man in his mid-40s, six feet tall, 175 to 185 pounds. He has a medium build and graying hair at the temples.

Because he's used a gun in the robberies, the public should consider the suspect armed and dangerous.

Agents ask anyone with information about the ``Locked Key Bandit'' call agents at (415) 553-7400. All calls are treated confidentially.

Robber who uses handcuffs strikes again

ROCKFORD — An armed robber with a supply of handcuffs struck again Thursday.

At about 6 p.m., a man described as white, 6-foot, weighing about 170 pounds and wearing a blue ski mask and armed with a gun entered the American Cash and Go store at 3424 N. Main St. Police said he displayed a gun to store employees, demanded and received an unknown amount of cash and handcuffed the two employees before fleeing.

Wednesday night, two employees at Treasures Galore, 4302 Sandy Hollow Road, were handcuffed by an armed robber fitting the same description. None of the employees in either robbery were injured.

Anyone with information about these crimes is asked to call Rockford Police at 987-5824, or call CrimeStoppers, 963-7867 or 888-769-7867.

Key Opens Handcuffs At Trial

Found in search of suspect's home
Testimony continues in Lisa Posluns killing
Feb. 1, 2006. 01:00 AM
PETER SMALL
STAFF REPORTER


Police found five handcuff keys in the home of the cleaner accused of sexually assaulting and stabbing Yorkville realtor Lisa Posluns, a murder trial has heard.

The day Nelson DeJesus was arrested, police executed a search warrant at his Toronto residence and began searching for possible evidence, Det.-Const. Wade Knaap testified yesterday.

They found four handcuff keys in a small ornamental wooden wagon in the living room, the forensic investigator told DeJesus' murder trial yesterday.

The next day, police found one handcuff key in a jewellery box atop a dresser in a bedroom, Knaap told Crown prosecutor Paul McDermott

DeJesus, 36, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in Posluns' death.

The 38-year-old commercial real estate broker's body was found early Sunday, Nov. 3, 2002 with seven stab wounds to the torso and her throat slit in an obscure ground-floor equipment room in the building where she had an office on the fifth floor.

DeJesus had been a cleaner at the building.

McDermott and co-counsel Susan Orlando expect to call evidence showing that when DeJesus was arrested at gunpoint after a police chase near his Euclid Ave. home on March 24, 2003, he had on him a pair of handcuffs that contained Posluns' DNA.

The Crown believes he used those handcuffs to restrain Posluns after surprising her at her office on Nov. 2, 2002.

In Superior Court yesterday, McDermott asked Knaap to try to unlock the cuffs with one of the four keys found in the living room and the one found in the bedroom. Both worked. The keys are similar to police handcuff keys, Knaap testified.

On Feb. 5, 2004, the handcuffs that were found on DeJesus as well as another pair were submitted to the Centre of Forensic Sciences for testing, Knaap testified.

The origin of the second set of cuffs was not explained.

Arizona: Soft Handcuffs to be used on school kids

Soft restraints to be used on kids



Josh Kelley The Arizona Republic Jan. 28, 2006 12:00 AM

A deputy used handcuffs last month to prevent a distraught third-grader at a school in Maricopa from hurting himself or others.

Now Pinal County Sheriff Chris Vasquez says he will equip all deputies who work in Maricopa with soft restraints to use instead of handcuffsto control unruly children.

Because soft restraints are made of spongy material that generally does not cause pain or leave marks, they are ideal for use on children, the mentally ill and even suicidal people, Vasquez said. advertisement

"It is kind of traumatic having handcuffs put on," said Vasquez, who pointed out that hospitals use soft restraints to protect combative patients.

Outside of Maricopa, Vasquez said he will give soft restraints to about 15 additional deputies patrolling throughout Pinal County, so that when needed, at least one person on a squad of deputies will have restraints that could be brought to a location for use instead of handcuffs.

The concern over handcuffs was prompted by an incident on Dec. 14 at Santa Rosa Elementary School in Maricopa where the principal reported to authorities an 8-year-old third grader described as "out of control and threatening other children in his class," according to a Sheriff's Office report on the incident.

When two deputies, one of them a sergeant, arrived at the school, they found a teacher trying to restrain the boy, who "appeared to be very upset and distraught by flailing his arms and attempting to kick his legs towards" the teacher, the report says.

The sergeant took control of the boy and sat him in a chair in a "time out" room, but the boy began to slam his body and head against the wall, the sergeant reported. The sergeant handcuffed the boy twice before eventually putting the handcuffs above his elbows to keep from slipping out, the report says.

The boy's mother said her son had been diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, a disorder characterized by deficient social skills and developmental problems but not a lack of intelligence.

Although she would not comment on the incident last month, Alma Farrell, superintendent of the Maricopa Unified School District, said a large percentage of students who lose control and become violent are those with special needs.

But, Farrell said, students without special needs can cause problems, too.

Sometimes, the use of force by school staff is necessary to control such students, Farrell said. The Sheriff's Office is called if the situation poses a danger to the combative student, other students or the person attempting to control the child.

The sheriff assigns two deputies to Maricopa schools.

Handcuffs are for all ages, but...

From the Joplin Globe:

* The decision to fire a former Joplin police officer accused of recurrent abuse of power, including his role in the handcuffing and arrest of an 11-year-old, has been upheld by the city’s personnel board.

* Charles Ward, who was fired from the police force in November, had appealed the city’s decision and contended he was fired because City Manager Mark Rohr wanted to retaliate for the “public relations nightmare” created by the handcuffing of an 11-year-old boy at an elementary school.

Kansas City police have no age restriction for use of handcuffs - but police have to have a reason, said KCPD Capt. Rich Lockhart.

"Handcuffing is viewed as a use of force", he said. "If you’re going to handcuff somebody, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re under arrest, but you need to be able to articulate why you did it. If you’re handcuffing people just to handcuff ‘em, there could be an issue there. You’ve got to have a reason to do it.

"You’re trying to control somebody with the handcuffs. If you are I are talking, and you’re not giving me any reason to believe you’re being uncooperative...and all of a sudden I start trying to handcuff you, we might have an issue there with improper use of handcuffs. But let’s say you’re maybe not giving me all the correct information, you’re lying to me, I’m getting a sense from you you’re not cooperating completely, I may handcuff you for my own safety. In that sense, it’s preventive."

Tri-Hinged Handcuffs Review

There is an excellent new review available on the Fury Hinged Handcuffs. If you like handcuffs you will want to read this review.