Handcuffs
Handcuffs are devices to secure two wrists close together.
They usually they have a ratchet-action to make them quicker to apply, and to make the size adjustable.
There is a metal variety and a much lighter and smaller disposable plastic one.
Plastic handcuffs, often known as FlexiCuffs, are lightweight disposable plastic strips to immobilize individuals. They can be carried in large quantities by soldiers and police and are therefore well-suited for situations where many may be needed, such as during large-scale protests. In recent years, airlines began to carry plastic handcuffs as a way to restrain disruptive passengers.
In former times, police officers typically handcuffed arrested persons with their hands in front of them, but since approximately the mid-1960s behind-the-back handcuffing has been the standard. The vast majority of police academies in the United States today also teach their recruits to apply handcuffs in such as manner so that the palms of the suspect's hands face outward after the handcuffs are applied; the Jacksonville, Florida Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's office are notable exceptions, as they favor palms-together handcuffing. In addition, suspects are handcuffed with the keyholes facing up (away from the hands) to make it difficult to open them even with a key or improvised pick.
On occasions when a suspect exhibits extremely aggressive behavior, leg irons may be used as well; sometimes the chain connecting the leg irons to one another is looped around the chain of the handcuffs, and then the leg irons are applied, resulting in the person being "hog-tied." In a few rare cases, hog-tied persons lying on their stomachs have died from asphyxiation, making the practice highly controversial, and leading to its being severely restricted, or even completely banned, in many localities.
Police handcuffs are often used in sexual bondage.
See also Bondage cuffs, Testicle cuffs, thumb cuffs
