Superior size/oversize/large handcuffs. How often are they required?

In the USA, police seem to use mainly "normal" sized handcuffs, but here in the United Kingdom police use the "Superior" size which is a 17% larger to accommodate for larger wrists.

I mean really... How often does a police officer who has standard sized handcuffs run into people who the cuffs literally won't fit on their wrists? It's an interesting conundrum, go with standard size and have issues with how ever many mythical people exist with wrists that are too large for standard size, or go for superior size handcuffs to fit those unicorn people with incredibly large wrists and run into issues handcuffing smaller wristed people like underweight women and aggressive minors.

When I buy gloves, I am usually a size Large and there's a LOT of room left on standard sized handcuffs to close much much tighter (assuming I actually had smaller wrists) and a LOT of room for them to be much much bigger than would be needed for my wrist size. So I really wonder about this size comparison issue and how it effects police officers.

In USA Peerless 801 are widely used. Peerless 801 handcuffs are oversized.

In the USA, police seem to use mainly "normal" sized handcuffs, but here in the United Kingdom police use the "Superior" size which is a 17% larger to accommodate for larger wrists.

I mean really... How often does a police officer who has standard sized handcuffs run into people who the cuffs literally won't fit on their wrists? It's an interesting conundrum, go with standard size and have issues with how ever many mythical people exist with wrists that are too large for standard size, or go for superior size handcuffs to fit those unicorn people with incredibly large wrists and run into issues handcuffing smaller wristed people like underweight women and aggressive minors.

When I buy gloves, I am usually a size Large and there's a LOT of room left on standard sized handcuffs to close much much tighter (assuming I actually had smaller wrists) and a LOT of room for them to be much much bigger than would be needed for my wrist size. So I really wonder about this size comparison issue and how it effects police officers.

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How about the "flip" side of the equation, namely how often are cuffs too large to handle small wrists??

In the USA, police seem to use mainly "normal" sized handcuffs, but here in the United Kingdom police use the "Superior" size which is a 17% larger to accommodate for larger wrists.

I mean really... How often does a police officer who has standard sized handcuffs run into people who the cuffs literally won't fit on their wrists? It's an interesting conundrum, go with standard size and have issues with how ever many mythical people exist with wrists that are too large for standard size, or go for superior size handcuffs to fit those unicorn people with incredibly large wrists and run into issues handcuffing smaller wristed people like underweight women and aggressive minors.

When I buy gloves, I am usually a size Large and there's a LOT of room left on standard sized handcuffs to close much much tighter (assuming I actually had smaller wrists) and a LOT of room for them to be much much bigger than would be needed for my wrist size. So I really wonder about this size comparison issue and how it effects police officers.

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I covered that in my post. I find it all interesting. "normal" sized cuffs, "large" sized cuffs, "handcuff reducers" to reduce the size to allow smaller wrist sizes etc. I have all 3 and seen the differences but I wonder about police in the field, what their experiences are with cases where they are too big or small for someone. Yes some people in the US may use the larger size but in the overwhelming average, officers tend to carry the standard size from what I can tell and what I have been told.

In the USA, police seem to use mainly "normal" sized handcuffs, but here in the United Kingdom police use the "Superior" size which is a 17% larger to accommodate for larger wrists.

I mean really... How often does a police officer who has standard sized handcuffs run into people who the cuffs literally won't fit on their wrists? It's an interesting conundrum, go with standard size and have issues with how ever many mythical people exist with wrists that are too large for standard size, or go for superior size handcuffs to fit those unicorn people with incredibly large wrists and run into issues handcuffing smaller wristed people like underweight women and aggressive minors.

When I buy gloves, I am usually a size Large and there's a LOT of room left on standard sized handcuffs to close much much tighter (assuming I actually had smaller wrists) and a LOT of room for them to be much much bigger than would be needed for my wrist size. So I really wonder about this size comparison issue and how it effects police officers.

Click to expand...

From my experience, the over-sized handcuffs (and leg-irons) are used primarily in the transportation of prisoners, not during the initial arrest on the street. "Street Cops" carry 1 or 2 pairs of regular cuffs, from any of a number of different brands, so when initially arrested the 'standard size' is what is used and if you are a larger individual, too bad for you, you're wrists are crammed into the standard cuffs for the typically short ride to the local lock-up.

Once a prisoner however, if you aren't released on some kind of documents and you have to be held in custody for court, the Sheriff's will be responsible for your transportation. They have a wider assortment of restraints including over-sized cuffs such as Peerless, which work well on their own AND will fit into black/blue boxes as necessary. Where I live, all prisoners being transported to court have the handcuff cover applied to either standard or oversize cuffs, plus you wear leg-irons for the entire trip, AND you wear leg irons even in the holding cell in the courthouse (for the entire day you are there).

In the Penitentiary system which I have also worked in, over-sized restraints are also used. This includes over sized leg irons, and over-sized handcuffs on Peerless waist chains. So yes, they are used, but not by the street cops who are only issued the standard cuffs. If one of them has the over-sized it's because they went out and bought their own, and I've only seen this once in 25 years of service.

The largest prisoner I saw who was 6' 2" and over 350 lbs, and a tough as nails outlaw biker doing a life sentence for murder, was transported with over-sized Peerless handcuffs on his wrists, and leg irons in between his legs which were zip-tied with plastic handcuffs on each ankle as over-sized leg irons weren't available at the time. He got a lot of looks from both the inmates and the guards and attracted a lot of attention. The guards were armed with Colt Ar-15 rifles, and I was one of them.

In the USA, police seem to use mainly "normal" sized handcuffs, but here in the United Kingdom police use the "Superior" size which is a 17% larger to accommodate for larger wrists.

I mean really... How often does a police officer who has standard sized handcuffs run into people who the cuffs literally won't fit on their wrists? It's an interesting conundrum, go with standard size and have issues with how ever many mythical people exist with wrists that are too large for standard size, or go for superior size handcuffs to fit those unicorn people with incredibly large wrists and run into issues handcuffing smaller wristed people like underweight women and aggressive minors.

When I buy gloves, I am usually a size Large and there's a LOT of room left on standard sized handcuffs to close much much tighter (assuming I actually had smaller wrists) and a LOT of room for them to be much much bigger than would be needed for my wrist size. So I really wonder about this size comparison issue and how it effects police officers.

Click to expand...

I had wondered why US police departments haven't seen an increased adoption of the SW model 1 cuff. This was designed to fit a far wider range of wrist sizes than the model 100. I guess the standard 100 or Peerless 700 are adequate. Many cops now carry backup plastic cuffs which can be used for wrists too large anyhow.

If you look around the net there are plenty of stories of women being able to slip out of standard size cuffs and get away, or drive off in a police car etc.

In the USA, police seem to use mainly "normal" sized handcuffs, but here in the United Kingdom police use the "Superior" size which is a 17% larger to accommodate for larger wrists.

I mean really... How often does a police officer who has standard sized handcuffs run into people who the cuffs literally won't fit on their wrists? It's an interesting conundrum, go with standard size and have issues with how ever many mythical people exist with wrists that are too large for standard size, or go for superior size handcuffs to fit those unicorn people with incredibly large wrists and run into issues handcuffing smaller wristed people like underweight women and aggressive minors.

When I buy gloves, I am usually a size Large and there's a LOT of room left on standard sized handcuffs to close much much tighter (assuming I actually had smaller wrists) and a LOT of room for them to be much much bigger than would be needed for my wrist size. So I really wonder about this size comparison issue and how it effects police officers.

Click to expand...

When I was at the show in Indy (in 2013 already, I'm getting old). I talked to a cop and got him to take a picture of me next to his squad car. He swore by S&W model 1 (he carried 2 pairs) because he had experiences in which the standard cuffs wouldn't fit...
Here's a picture of me next to his car.
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In the USA, police seem to use mainly "normal" sized handcuffs, but here in the United Kingdom police use the "Superior" size which is a 17% larger to accommodate for larger wrists.

I mean really... How often does a police officer who has standard sized handcuffs run into people who the cuffs literally won't fit on their wrists? It's an interesting conundrum, go with standard size and have issues with how ever many mythical people exist with wrists that are too large for standard size, or go for superior size handcuffs to fit those unicorn people with incredibly large wrists and run into issues handcuffing smaller wristed people like underweight women and aggressive minors.

When I buy gloves, I am usually a size Large and there's a LOT of room left on standard sized handcuffs to close much much tighter (assuming I actually had smaller wrists) and a LOT of room for them to be much much bigger than would be needed for my wrist size. So I really wonder about this size comparison issue and how it effects police officers.

Click to expand...

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