Hello everyone, I just recently got a job in law enforcement.
We are permitted to carry our own gear, and as for my duty belt I have two pairs of cuffs.
The first pair are the most common issue (and the ones given to me), the SW M100. The second pair are the ASP hinged cuffs (not the lightweight).
Today was my first day, and I was basically doing ridealongs with another officer. He was wondering what gear I had with me, and I showed him the cuffs.
Short story is that he told me the cuffs were absolutely awful, as the hinge on the cuffs is weak and can be broken just by applying pressure to it.
I would try myself, but I would like your opinion first. If they are indeed poor, I would not use them. I am quite hesitant to use them as it is, the neighbourhoods that we patrol aren't the safest, so I need to make sure that my gear is reliable.
Also worth mentioning, I have searched quite a bit on the net about reliability of these cuffs, not much to see. There was a video on YouTube that showed that it was apperantly easy to make the ratchet miss the pawl by having it moved to the side, I tried on these, and I don't think that is the case.
Oh, and while I am on this topic, apperantly you can replace the lock-sets on these cuffs, has anyone done it, if so, how easy is it to do it?
I might do it just to replace the pawl to a tripple pawl, but that's later.
Any tips are helpful!
Thanks guys!
Ive read and seen on YouTube, all the criticisms of ASP handcuffs and I'll try to go through them, giving my two cents.
I'm on the receiving end of this. My wife is the handcuffer. (read this however you like).
I just sent a pair of ASP aluminum hinged cuffs back and exchanged them for a chained pair, aluminum.
The poly over mould split at the pivot of one of the cuffs. It appeared to have shrunk and pulled apart right at the pin/bushing. I have a picture.
My wife made the call to downgrade (price wise) to chained cuffs as the hinged are harder for a female to wrestle with. If you have a passive resistor who doesn't want to place his wrists inside the handcuffs for you, you can have a tough time getting the hinged cuffs on. There are ways to deal with those guys but I'll leave it at "some special training required".
She decided that it was more important to be able to apply the cuffs quickly without getting into a battle of wills.
Sharp edges. I noticed some sharpness where the seam of the overmould wasn't cleaned off. The poly is, I believe, polyethylene plastic. It's very easy to clean up.
Too flexible. They are very flexible. ASP touts this as one of the selling points. The cheek plates are stainless covered with poly. They can be bent, crushed, twisted but you're not going to spread them or brake them once the cuff is on. They are very strong. When they crush from being sat on or smashed against something, the bow doesn't swing through cleanly anymore. The instructions say to bend them back with the cheek plates of another cuff. No problem. You just tweak them back so the bow doesn't hit and strikes dead nuts over the lock pawl.
The bow misses the cheek plates. I don't know what to say here. I guess it's a limitation of the gear. I've never attended an ASP workshop or whatever they do but, I would think it wise to learn how to use your gear the way it was intended/designed.
Key holes on both sides. Officers preference. Taking the cuffs off can very often be more dangerous then getting them on. The dual keyholes and getting the double and single lock in one twist is a nice feature. Also, loosening the cuffs once they're on can be done without fumbling with the double lock. You can engage it with the key.
Accidentally engaging the double lock. That's operator error. Yes it can happen but you should be loading the cuffs anyway. You would catch that then.
Weak hinges. I don't think so. I can't brake them. They seem to be a steel copper alloy. They are soft but very strong. They might bend (and I believe they may be designed to give before a wrist gets broken) but they won't brake from being fatigued. The way the links interlock isn't like a bike chain. The pins don't press out. The links have to be separated from the body of the cuff to get them apart.
Plastic is weak. No.
Easy to pick. Not any easier then S&W or Pierless. The keyhole is recessed and the tolerance is tight because the key passes through a stainless plate. It might be stamped but it is clean and accurate and the pin is welded on to it. You can get a paper clip in but nothing thicker. Not like Smiths where you can bend a bobby pin in the key slot. Also, the pawl is like a 200* (degree) twist. The Smith is 15* maybe and the Pierless is 120*. The ASP is very easy to shim.....so double lock. The Pierless is pretty easy to shim also. The Smiths are the hardest of the three. The double lock on the ASP can't be bagged loose either. Not like the Pierless.
The Zak Cuff Wrap is only seven bucks if you were worried about it.
What else?...too big?... They are pretty big. Cases are easy to find and cheap enough now though. They will fit a big wrist and the cuffs are far apart. They are designed so the perimiter shrinks like the Pierless when they are squeezed down snug. They fit small wrists almost as good as big wrists. The shape of the bow has a lot to do with that. They are easy to grab. There is plenty of hinge or chain to hold on to. They fit in your hand nicely.
The focus of ASP seems to be speed and safety, for the subject as well as the officer. The edges are very round. They don't leave marks like metal cuffs. You can fight them and not injure soft tissue or nerves. They are not as uncomfortable as metal handcuffs so your prisoner won't be as angry with you when it's time to take them off. You don't have to worry about "keyholes up". They're always up. The double lock pulls toward you. I think this is better then the Smith which you push in toward the back of your subject. My wife prefers push pins and the ASP is a slide like the Smith 100. I can only say that the S&W style double lock seems to be harder to pick then push pin types. I'd like to check out a pair of Smith push pins to see how they work. I have a feeling, they use a button to push the same old tried and true spring double lock instead of a slot.
All in all, i think ASP makes a great handcuff. I don't use handcuffs and I'm not trained and not very good with them but I understand how they work and why ASP chose the features they did. They compromised in some areas to concentrate on others. I think they are on the right track and I get the idea behind the Tactical Handcuff.
Incidentally, my wife's favorites are still the Pierless 500. Just personal preference really.
