By Cuffsandcops
As evidenced by the catalogue of stories I’ve written, my success rate with getting random police officers to handcuff me is pretty high. The one agency that has alluded me is my city’s police department. I have asked many officers over the years and have always been met with a No. I was told once that if a second officer had been present it could have happened, but that’s the closest I’ve come.
Just before Christmas I went to grab some last minute gifts for my family at the local university’s sports shop. The students had been away from campus for a couple of weeks and the normally busy street the store is on was very quiet. I hadn’t been to that area in a while, so I walked around to see what businesses had come and gone. On the one corner, the university now had an office for their public safety department. I peeked in the window and saw a gentleman sitting behind the desk so I entered. I asked the uniform shirt wearing man if it would be possible to experience being cuffed. He replied that he would gladly if he had some. He was not wearing a duty belt and said there were no pairs of cuffs in the office. I thanked him for his time and set off to the sports shop after a few minutes of casual conversation.
After making my purchases, I brought the bag full of items to my truck. I noticed a city cop walking across the street to a national chain restaurant presumably to grab some lunch. I took a walk down the block, saw his marked SUV parked in a secluded lot, and saw the officer standing at the counter in the restaurant. I walked back and forth between where my truck was parked down the block and where the officer’s SUV was stopped. After a few minutes, the officer left the restaurant with a bag of food in hand.
I set off toward the city cop and we both reached his vehicle at the same time. I said excuse me and then asked if it would be possible to experience being handcuffed by him. He opened the door to his SUV and set his food inside. I pushed the sleeves on my jacket up exposing my wrists. He pulled a pair of ASP chain cuffs from the front of his vest.
I asked what kind of cuffs they were and if they were commonly carried by officers in the department. He said most guys carried steel cuffs and showed a pair of Peerless chain cuffs that were his back up pair. He said he prefered the ASP cuffs because they have key holes on both side, which make them easier to get off of people.
I repeated my question about trying them on. He said putting them in front would be easy, but I said if I am going to get cuffed I would want it done properly. He directed me to turn away from him and place my hands behind my back. The officer grasped my fingers on both hands with his left hand. This technique was something I had not experienced before. By doing so, he set himself up to easily apply the cuffs on both wrists quickly. He did not double lock the cuffs. I asked about their tightness and he said for someone being compliant, they were on correctly.
While I was cuffed, we talked about the possibility of doing a ride along and it sounds pretty easy to schedule one. He commented that a ride along would be a good way to experience a day in the life of an officer. I asked if I could have a seat in the back of his vehicle before the cuffs came off and he declined. The officer reached for the keys on his vest which signaled to me I should turn back around to get released.
Once my hands were free from behind my back, I looked at my wrists and noticed there were not very visible marks around them. I am not sure if this was due to the polymer material that ASP cuffs are made from or if it was becuase they were not applied very tightly. I thanked the city cop for his time and the experence. I shook his hand, we exchanged names, and I told him to be safe out there. I walked back to my truck with a smile on my face and I could finally add the city PD to my list of local departments that I’ve gotten to lock me up, even if just for a few minutes. I appreciated the subtle new technique that was used by this officer and love that there was a freshness to this experience of getting handcuffed.
Metal would like to thank the author, Cuffsandcops, for this story!
