Image you’re on the ground, fighting. Deadly force isn’t authorized but you’re losing the fight. The suspect — from a mounted position — is hitting you harder now because of your grounded position.
You’ve lost power because you can’t use your legs in your strike because you’re on your back. Right now, a pair of brass knuckles would make a great equalizer to turn the fight in your favor.
This is where your handcuffs can be made into an improvised impact tool.
Chain linked cuffs will work best. Most handcuffing instructors will tell you to turn the cuffs so both single strands are facing the same direction. However, if the cuffs are held in that position they can collapse crushing and/or cutting the officers fingers.
To prevent that, reverse the cuffs-single strand to double strand-and they no longer pose a threat to the officer using them. Place the chain end into the palm so that the locking mechanism fills hand, with the middle and ring fingers inserted and gripping around the lock and through the circle formed by the cuffs.
You now have an improvised set of “brass knuckles” that will serve well as a force multiplier to escalate the level of force in an in close fighting situation.
You can grasp the cuffs in a reversed grip with the chain and locking mechanism as the impact point, but the cuffs can turn and cause a sprain to the wrist-not a desired outcome in the middle of a use of force situation.
The target that you choose to strike will be determined by the justified level of force. The metal will crush and break bone with an appropriate level of force so they should be used only in those situations that justify that level of force.
