Now here is a question i've always been curious about, whats the difference between the hinge and the chain type handcuffs? And no, its not for 'personal' knowledge! LOL. Just always curious. Seems that the hinge type are far superiour, but you don't see too many cops carrying them.

All apolgies for taking the thread off course.

Kris

I've been told they're more difficult to put on than regular cuffs, and that there is a greater possibility of injury to those detained with them (which is why some departments don't allow them).

Barely a mark. Did some pretty good damage to the two officers who had arrested him too...

Yup, got a couple pair of them. Unbreakable, and they have a larger hole for large wrists. Unfortunately the holes are closer together, so if you have a large prisoner you can get the cuffs around the wrists, but really have to work to get the wrists close enough together to hook them up. The hinged cuffs also work on ankles, which is handy...

"...Seems that the hinge type are far superiour, but you don't see too many cops carrying them..."

Many officers only have what is issued to them, they won't go buy any equipment on their own. I was just the opposite, I spent a fortune over the years on what I hoped to be better stuff. One bad thing about the hinged cuffs is that you can not use them with many of the handcuffing techniques departments use. With my former department, I was required to use their approved techniqes ONLY, if I tried something different on my own and got hurt in the process, it was a "preventable injury." But ya gotta do what ya gotta do, so I carried both typed of cuffs (two cases on my belt), and had about six or seven more pair in my bag...

Thanks for that OBG.

Hi,

I training we were shown a video of an arrested man defeating Flex-cuffs with a shoelace. The lace is treaded through the cuff and pulled back and forth quickly, the friction cuts through the plastic in less than 5 seconds. I heard that cuffs are now available with a wire insert to defeat this escape method but I have not been able to source any of these improved flex-cuffs.

I searched U-Tube for the short video but could not find it.

Mike

I can believe it. If a construction worker use nylon cord to cut thru copper pipe (typical household stuff/size) quicker then using a hacksaw, going thru plastic shouldn't be that difficult.