S&W Handcuff Strength Test

[Jerry M]

I had a prisoner shackled to an I bolt in the bullpen while I was doing the arrest report. he twisted the cuff in the I bolt and bent the cuffs to the point of being unusable. But he was a brute...

Good Luck

Jerry

 

[BE Mike]

One thing I learned in school was handcuffs are TEMPORARY restraining devices. One of my most embarrassing moments was when I was attempting to cuff a semi-pro boxer who had an outstanding warrant. As he waited patiently, I beat on those cuffs to get the corrosion to break free. I finally got them free. I had used the cuffs previously to arrest a nude mental case who was in the surf of the Atlantic Ocean, up to his waist. From then on I made sure that I checked and oiled my cuffs regularly. I still carry a handcuff key on my keychain, even after all these years of being retired.

 

[CH4]

Handcuffs were not issued so I purchased a set of Pearless and used them for my entire 30 year career and still have them. While I'm not sure how to test their strength no one ever got out of them, a few tried, once they went on.

Pearless is all I ever used. Never once let me down.

 

[Muley Gil]

We had a dispatcher who could slip out of a pair of S & W Alum cuffs. She was really thin in those days, not so today. Going to see her tonight at our dept retirees Christmas party. She is now married to our retired Chief.

See my post #6.

 

[charlie sherrill]

I cuffed a big drunk logger behind his back who had run his truck into the back of a car. I put him in the cage of the cruiser and took him to jail. I pulled into the sally port and when I went to get him out I noticed his hands in his lap. I asked him what happened to my cuffs and he said "They were uncomfortable." He still had the cuffs on but he had broken the chain connecting them. He never gave me any trouble through the DUI test and booking process.

 

[Sgt 127]

Ok. Since this thread is still alive.

We had a local named "one armed Charlie" Because, well, he only had one arm.

He would drink a little and be an annoyance to local businesses. Generally harmless. But, he was a little off. No, he was actually pretty off.

Usually it went along the lines of: "Hey Bud, it's time to move on, you're annoying people." He'd leave and just stomp off down the road to annoy others and generate another call.

One time I asked him to move on. For some reason, he was in a bad mood. I again told him and kind of pled with him to move on. (I really didn't want to arrest him). He got more belligerent. I just kind of turned him in the direction I wanted to go and he dropped his shoulder and shoulder checked me.

In my usual "you've got to be kidding me! How dare you bow up to me!" (In that era, you didn't dare lay a hand on a Police Officer, that was an immediate arrest). I spun him around, pushed him against a wall, grabbed his right hand put a cuff on it and...

Started fishing around for his left hand...

It then occurred to me that this wasn't going to work.

While I was pondering this. He casually looked over his shoulder and said:

"You really didn't think this through, did you?"

Fortunately, the dumb Cop gods took pity on me and, he was wearing a belt that day.

 

[BlackAgnes]

Many years ago, I answered a bar fight call and found the agressor was almost certainly some kind of giant! About 6'10" tall and as wide as an ax handle. I was alone and knew this would be a challenge, so I asked him to sit and talk for a while to calm down, which he did.

I said, "Bill, I'm gonna hafta take you downtown, if that's OK?". He put out his hands, kinda meekly, and my cuffs were not big enough to close on his wrists. I asked him if he was going to give me any trouble, and he said he would be OK.

I put him in the front seat of the cruiser (1968 Ford Galaxie) and we chatted amiably all the way to the Public Safety Building jail in Syracuse. In the sally port, the jailers came out and gently took him into the reception area. where he was booked in, meek as a lamb.

I saw him a few times after that (he was a steelworker) and he was always apologetic about the incident, and we had a good relationship for years.

I don't know what ever became of him.

Tim

 

[Ed Fowler]

Blackangus: That is the way it used to be, times were good and we did not realize it!

 

[Sgt 127]

A very good friend of mine is a retired LAPD Commander. I was lamenting what used to be. The fun we had. And I mentioned that if I could rewind the last 32 years I'd do it all over again. (But, with the same rules we used to have).

And he told me something that really stuck with me.

"Don't fret that it's over, be happy that it happened."

 

[NYlakesider]

Many years back there was a Texas gun writer by the name of Tom Ferguson. He was a LEO and occasionally told some interesting cop stories. He did a story on handcuffing.

The one I remember the best was what to do if your alone trying to cuff a rather nasty person that did not want to be cuffed.

He said if the person was putting up a good fight to put one cuff on just as hard and tight as possible. Reason was if he got away before you could do the other wrist that cuff would be so unpleasant according to Ferguson, he would be looking for a cop to loosen it after a couple minutes on the run. If you got both cuffs on you could reposition the tight one as you now had your prisoner under control.

 

[BlackAgnes]

You're right, Ed.

 

[hogblue]

I have a couple pair of unique cuffs i acquired over my career. First is a pair of Smith model 94 "D" series. Second is a pair of Colt's with the Rampant colt stamped in one and Colts patd F.A mfg co on the other.