The most-used tool on your duty belt is your hand cuffs. The hand cuffs will be used by more officers today than any other piece of equipment. Cuffing skills are taken for granted. Too may cops are not training enough in cuffing skills.
Once the decision is made to take a subject into custody you should already be thinking how that is going to play out up until the cuffs are double locked behind the subjects back.
If you haven’t prepared yourself mentally you will not be ready physically to deal with a resisting subject. In our job we don’t have the luxury of size or weight or strength or age like a WWF match. We have to deal with whatever comes our way. We need to step up right here right now. Your back up officer may be three minutes away or more that is a long time when fighting to get cuffs on a resisting subject.
Here are a couple of safety tips for our officers.
1. Always carry more than one set of cuffs.
2. Always keep them easily assessable left hand and right hand grab.
3. Always keep them loaded and clean.
4. Loaded cuffs are easier to put on — hopefully we all know how to load a set of cuffs — because there are fewer teeth to push through the ring.
5. Always double lock the cuffs, unless time and safety are a factor to remove subject quickly.
6. Always secure prisoner in back of cruiser and seat belt them in a way that they can’t try to slip the cuffs to the front.
7. Never (never!) leave a prisoner alone always have eyes on them.
Too many officers getting hurt with poor or lazy or just complacent tactical thinking and skills. We are all our brothers’ and sisters’ keeper. The safer we do our job the more of us get to go home.
Vigilant and tactical always.