It was just in the news here: Dutch Police forces are on the lookout for new handcuffs. According to Gerrit van de Kamp of Dutch Police association ACP the current cuffs are ‘worn out’ after twenty five years of service. No link was made anywhere to a small little incident that happened last year …
And not just any handcuff will do to become the new standard … there is a huge list of requirements. For instance: they must be ‘comfortable’ (designed with ergonomics in mind). And the material used should of course be strong and durable, must be resistant against corrosion and not cause allergic contact rashes. And because “the Netherlands finest” already carry quite some tools on their belt the cuffs should not weigh more then 340 gram. The color is also specified: black. This is because shiny silver cuffs might trigger aggressive reactions. and talking about color: the tender includes one thousand ‘training cuffs’ in a light blue color.
But the funniest of all requirements is the one that specifies that they can only be opened with the correct key! Not a word if this key should me made out of metal or if a printed plastic copy will do. And most important: the cuffs should resist fifteen minutes of manipulation against someone who can use ‘tools’ like a paperclip, business card, screwdrivers or a split pin. Interestingly, normal household locks have a ten minute time limit against manipulation in the highest SKG 3 star certification. My free advise to the Dutch police: If you are even halfway clever you should invite Ray and ask his opinion about the various handcuffs that you currently have in consideration … it could save you some embarrassment later down the road …
And anyone wants to place a bet how long it takes before someone takes a picture of the key and makes a working copy out of it?
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And then on a personal level: I will start again with my ‘post on blackbag once a week’ policy. Meaning that around the weekends there will be a post here on blackbag. Next one will be about … LockCon, the ELF conference and the European lockpick championships …
Those are the actual handcuffs that the dutch police use? With the HQ of ToooL being in the Netherlands, I would have thought the police would have stepped up their game in lock security just a bit… but this proves otherwise.
I reckon it will take less than a month for a working key to be made.
Heh, lets see what they have to drop from their requirements list to get the cuffs. I’m betting on the fifteen minute manipulation time and I suspect that when the cuffs are bought, they are some very new and shiny model (well, shiny as in black) that hasn’t been on the market and the manufacturer claims that fifteen minutes time or worse: they are pickproof! 😀
Welcome back Barry and I hope you a happy and relaxed new year 🙂
Whom is this Ray of whom you speak?
since plastic disposable handcuffs already exist, I think that plastic is an option, some of it is very tough, and if it were built like Clejuso #15’s, with smaller incorporated metal lock parts, in a combination of plastic and metals as is already developes for such firearms as Glock, it could be possible to make them light weight, tough and hypoalergenic.
In fact I think clement and jung may win this contract if they follow it up.
Raimundo,
Ray held a lot of presentations on handcuffs, see e.g. http://blackbag.toool.nl/?p=205 , http://blackbag.toool.nl/?p=940 ,
and https://har2009.org/program/speakers/197.en.html
Cheers
mh
Thanks MH, I vaguely remember reading about him, some time back. and I so seldom get any reply from anyone on this site,
I appreciate your response.
Rai
Hi guys, i’m wery impressed about this theme, dutch police(resp german) need new cuffs with good locking system..
about Your discusion.. i can imagine, i can develope lock (for handcuffs) which cannot be picked in 15 minutes(whenever You know locking system) with only wire etc..
kez cannot be 3D printed from plastic-allways is visible in metal detectors,
and yes key can be duplicated but not by simple way..
and key can be patented- duplication or holding duplicate of the key is risk and illegaly.. 😉
don´t hessitate to contact me
teel my greetings Han and Barry
Thomas, Brno, Czech Rep.
Hi gentlemen, i’m wery impressed about this theme, dutch police(resp german) need new cuffs with good locking system..
about Your discusion.. i can imagine, i can develope lock (for handcuffs) which cannot be picked in 15 minutes(whenever You know locking system) with only wire etc..
kez cannot be 3D printed from plastic-allways is visible in metal detectors,
and yes key can be duplicated but not by simple way..
and key can be patented- duplication or holding duplicate of the key is risk and illegaly.. 😉
don´t hessitate to contact me
teel my greetings Han and Barry
Thomas, Brno, Czech Rep.
Guys, you are missing the point.
Most handcuffs can be easily opened as they all have the same key and keys are readily available. This is deliberate, as the person applying the cuffs may not be the person back at the station who uncuffs the suspect. Similarly, you may have an officer handcuff a whole lot of people and they don’t want to muck about trying to find keys later.
Proper handcuffing technique however, is to cuff behind the person’s back, with the keyhole facing away from their fingers. Whilst it might be easy to pick the lock even with a toothpick normally, it is almost, if not completely impossible to do this while actually wearing them. Even if you have a key.
There are additional ‘tricks’ the officer can also do to make it even harder still for a suspect to remove their own cuffs.