Escape and Concealment Part 2: American Restraints

hello again everyone and welcome back to our second part in our mini series on uh escape and concealment so hopefully you've checked out part one uh i if you haven't done so already i would highly advise uh doing so we did not want to split this up into parts but honestly this is going to take a long time so we're trying to keep the videos around one hour in length so without further ado let's jump right into the next type of handcuff in the american style restraints this is the asp model 500 our asp identifier ultra hinged style handcuffs now this company asp and this style of handcuff is very common it may not be as common as the uh smith and wesson model 100s or the peerless model 700s but they are still out there and i would say that they're probably one of the more common uh handcuffs used by more i hesitate to use or use the term elite but um a lot of people who want to be kind of cool and have gucci gear on the job they're going to be using these types of handcuffs because they're a little bit more expensive they're a little bit flashier you can have color coding options you can change the color of these handcuffs so that you can know which one's yours all that kind of stuff t flashier you can have color coding options you can change the color of these handcuffs so that you can know which one's yours all that kind of stuff and as such they're also not a restricted item at least not yet so anyone really with a paypal account and a delivery address can order these from pretty much any website and have them shipped anywhere in the united states so that's why we're talking about them they are a very common type of handcuffs so one thing to note before jumping into the video i will mention it in the video but i did want to show you that uh the cores the the actual locking pole and locking system can change on this particular model of handcuff that's one of the advertised features of this handcuff series you can unscrew the handcuff the user can unscrew this handcuff and you can swap it out with any of these cores on the side now of course the yellow model not this not the color yellow here in the image but the actual color of the double lock little tab right there this pod that you can see poking through that delineates what um what style of key is required to open these and really in the united states you're going to see the standard one the most most comm delineates what um what style of key is required to open these and really in the united states you're going to see the standard one the most most common chances are if you're going to be hand cut like this is going to be extremely extremely rare because as we'll see when we get into the video it doesn't really matter what the locking pole system on the inside is these handcuffs are not high security at all as a matter of fact most corrections departments within the united states who really set the standards for what are high security handcuffs well they say high security handcuffs must have the ability to have the handcuff keyhole covered and as we see when we get into the video that's one of the great downfalls of this handcuff and one that can be taken advantage of if you're being used if these are being used to detain you illegally so chances are you're not going to see the high security core in this style of handcuff one i don't think any of their handcuffs ship with that core you have to order that separately you also have to change it out separately by removing five or six screws per handcuffed side and it's kind of a pain kind of a pain in the butt to do so not a lot of peop nge it out separately by removing five or six screws per handcuffed side and it's kind of a pain kind of a pain in the butt to do so not a lot of people are doing them oh and you need a special key as well to get the high security ones out so chances are you're going to be going up against the standard ones which are the ones that we're going to show you in the video this is the exact model we're going to show you so just wanted to point that out that these are extremely common uh and they're also they also have a lot of flaws so let's go ahead and jump right into the video and talk about these a little bit more all right so here we are with the asp uh model 500 sort of ultra hinged cuffs we go by a few different you know marketed names but you'll know them when you see them uh this handcuff like i'm like i mentioned is a hinged handcuff but this style of cuff right here take the hinge out of it uh this style of cuff is very common throughout the asp brand they even have this sort of flat area from which to ease more easily slap this onto someone's wrist that's their patented sort of thing they've got the steel locking poles all kinds of stuff and uh so this is the basic design of onto someone's wrist that's their patented sort of thing they've got the steel locking poles all kinds of stuff and uh so this is the basic design of the asp cuff is pretty consistent throughout the company but one of the things that we wanted to talk about with this specific cuff is that it is very interesting it's almost like a paradox of a cuff because you've got design flaws that are blatant design flaws that are marketed as pros they're marketed as something being positive on the other hand you have design flaws which actually which are not intended to be a security feature but you've got design files that actually do function as a security feature which is utterly fascinating with this specific kind of cuff now as you can see hinged cuffs by themselves uh it really any type of hinged handcuff which is different from your chain style handcuff your um your these are you know of course missing western model 100s or the peerless ones um there's a fair amount of give with these really there's there's the the only sort of plane of existence that is being uh uh restricted in any way is the ability to move them in and out right and even then that's really not that big of a deal espec stence that is being uh uh restricted in any way is the ability to move them in and out right and even then that's really not that big of a deal especially for getting out of them now the hinged ones are a little bit different they're of course more strongly uh limited along this plane but really the the design feature so that you can't twist them like this now interestingly enough i'm sure you heard that loud clicking this is kind of interesting because for a hinged cuff these are very very loose look at the loose tolerances and these handcuffs by the way are more or less brand new and they still do that they still flex a pretty good amount and so basically really the only thing that the hinged handcuffs going for them because they're difficult to wear they're uncomfortable to wear they uh generate a lot of lawsuits because of how uncomfortable they are and how restrictive they are and and really the only way that hinged handcuffs have a leg to stand on at all is that they're way more difficult to get out of than chain handcuffs so these uh these handcuffs are treated even though these specific kind are not hinged handcuffs in general are treated more uh with more high security-ne hese uh these handcuffs are treated even though these specific kind are not hinged handcuffs in general are treated more uh with more high security-ness they're treated as more high security than your chain ones and that's true generally speaking not so with these these are far easier to get out of than these and i'll show you how so first of all let's take a look at the number one design flaw which is marketed as being a huge benefit and that is key ways on both sides of the handcuff now this is obviously marketed this is one of the huge things the asp brand is not a whole lot of american handcuff companies have their keyway on both sides of the lock right but the asp brand does and they market that very very heavily so that obviously really negates one of the only reasons to use a hinged handcuff because when you use normal handcuffs right the idea is that to make them using that idea of progressive security slap them on this way so that the keyway is facing away from your hand that makes it a little bit more difficult for your other hand to reach in and touch it you have to go kind of around right so in theory with a hinged handcuff the idea being you slap them all as the keyway r hand to reach in and touch it you have to go kind of around right so in theory with a hinged handcuff the idea being you slap them all as the keyway is facing away and then now it makes it really difficult for that hand to get in there because it's just really hard to get to that other keyway well if you've got key ways on both sides you're really negating the only security factor that makes these hinged handcuffs this genre the style of handcuff more secure than your hand than your chain ones so um i don't know why anyone would use these other than this uh sort of the the culture behind these cuffs these cuffs are way more expensive than these these 20 30 bucks depending on where you get them from and they can ship right to your door these around eighty dollars uh they are a lot more sleek they're a lot like just look at these they're a lot more industrial right they don't look quite as nice they're not as quite not as nice to look at for a lot of people as these right these are a lot smoother they're a lot more high speed looking they attack to cool right and you can even get uh different colors here this one this model is the yellow variant uh just for instructional purposes b they attack to cool right and you can even get uh different colors here this one this model is the yellow variant uh just for instructional purposes but you can get all different kinds of colors of this this style you can go from black to blue to red all kinds of stuff so that is one of the huge design flaws of this cuff another huge design flaw is the nature of hinged cuffs themselves so one of the standard practices no matter where you're at in the world if your handcuffs double lock um and you're going to be transporting a person using a normal sand of handcuffs double lock them right there very few times really anybody from an insurgent group to you know a corrections department right there are very few times that handcuffs are going to be put on a person for either legal or illegal means and they're not going to be double locked that changes a little bit with hinged cuffs because people believe that these are more high security than these they're not so they might be a little bit more lazy and uh not um not double lock these because they think oh they're hinged they're high security right so this is what i was mentioning earlier right at the beginning and in part one of uh you use they think oh they're hinged they're high security right so this is what i was mentioning earlier right at the beginning and in part one of uh you're not necessarily playing the tool you're playing the operator so take it like this for instance on the on this particular cuff i don't know if you can quite see that keyway there a little hard to see behind on that black background but there is a very clear lever there that's very easy to to push well with this one it's a little harder to see in fact asp changed the color of it inside there to be able to be a little bit easier to see and so it's um just a little just one more thing that you know people have to do and that sort of you're trying to of course you know play the person by being lazy enough to think oh these are hinges they can't get out of them anyways i'm not going to bother double locking them well here's one of the reasons why you i'll always if you're going to be using these in an official capacity or someone who is using these i don't know why they would ever not double lock and here's why you can probably hear it hear that jiggling these handcuffs have very very loose tolerances check out these like you could prob le lock and here's why you can probably hear it hear that jiggling these handcuffs have very very loose tolerances check out these like you could probably hear that just a little bit of movement these that is a that is a that is a lot of movement right so remember how i showed how these handcuffs can be you know decently easily shimmed you just get your shim in the right spot well actually let me use the um split paul design by the way i know i keep uh saying this sort of split paul shim is a russian style well that's because of kind of an urban legend that these were created to shim russian handcuffs well it turns out russian handcuffs the the brs twos and threes these don't necessarily work that well on them but they're sort of in a lot of training exercises referred to as a russian style even though a lot of russian style uh handcuffs are not double paul they're just single paul but there you go pretty easy to do with this sort of split paul or russian style paul if you're wanting to be incorrect like me uh think well guess what you saw how me just talking through it that was a little bit it's kind of difficult look this one faster faster than the key you see there is no feeling u saw how me just talking through it that was a little bit it's kind of difficult look this one faster faster than the key you see there is no feeling around you just literally just can you know with one finger just jam it in and we're done it's faster than using the key when your handcuffs when your company's handcuffs can be shimmed faster than the key can be used that's probably not as high security let me try it here with another standard shim yeah once again it's faster than the key i say faster than the key but there you go trying to do this for looking for the viewfinder is kind of difficult at times now here's the cool part about this uh this is a shim dedicated for shimming handcuffs um what about something like a a safety pin check this out not a whole lot of people know this but it takes a little bit of difficulty because the of course a normal safety pin is round in shape and not flat but if you get it in there just right i'm going to try to do this because it's it ends up pushing the thing in push that all the way in look at that you're able to shim oh it fell off the side all right it's kind of thin but it is definitely 100 percent doable so you have to push it in and at that you're able to shim oh it fell off the side all right it's kind of thin but it is definitely 100 percent doable so you have to push it in and out a few times right but of course it wears the coating off on your uh on your safety pin but it is doable and that's kind of super ridiculous because basically you can have any piece of metal right any kind of uh thing that's remotely uh flat and you can just get it in there a piece of wire anything can these these handcuffs can be shimmed once again way faster than the handcuff then of course you can always use your your normal handcuff keys there's the delta key the normal standard key now i must note that using a bobby pin is going to be a little bit more difficult on these and here's why for one take a look at that keyway it's facing the wrong way that makes it a little bit harder to do so on these on these uh handcuffs i'm going to smooth the modem 100s the keyway is facing up and on these it's facing down the sort of top little piece that you're going to bend so having it facing the wrong way i don't think that was intended as a design feature at all but it actually does make it a little bit more difficult another thing that the wrong way i don't think that was intended as a design feature at all but it actually does make it a little bit more difficult another thing that was designed as a design feature was this yellow bit right this little bit of um plastic in there that kind of covers this whole assembly which can be changed out this makes it very very difficult to get in there and actually bend the bobby pin right so you once you get in there and you bend it right it can be done but um you can't really use the key way like we do on this to bend that bobby pin so that it has that right hook in order to get around in there right but you know i'm just gonna try yeah i can't even really get in there at all um with a bobby pin i'm sure it can be done i just i honestly haven't even bothered with practicing that variant too much because it's not really worth it you got your normal standard handcuff keys here as well as you can see even their smallest uh tiny inconspicuous handcuff key does in fact work on these so you know one of them yet another reason to like these are some of the lowest security handcuffs on the market they're accidentally they're they're accidentally hard to pick with bobby pins where ike these are some of the lowest security handcuffs on the market they're accidentally they're they're accidentally hard to pick with bobby pins whereas if you just have a shim like you know geez it's faster than using the key so um that's one thing with these particular cuffs now here is another thing with these cuffs and i'm going to show you using a normal key these handcuffs have a design flaw like i mentioned that is accidentally that accidentally increases the security of these handcuffs and here's what that means on a normal set of handcuffs i'll go ahead and show you on the smith and wesson model 100s again you double lock them right and then you put the key in the keyway and then you're going to spin it i forget on i always forget this but you either spin it one way okay you spin it to the right and that unlocks the double lock and then you spin the key the other way and it releases the cuff on these it's the same way or it's not it's different but it is you spin the key the same way so let me go ahead and double lock these check it out put the key in all right i forget which way to turn it i'm turning it to the right absolutely nothing is happening i turn it to the left i heck it out put the key in all right i forget which way to turn it i'm turning it to the right absolutely nothing is happening i turn it to the left i here feel a little resistance there we go double lock done and then now i keep twisting it the same way and the handcuffs come open now check this out set these back up again if if these handcuffs are not double locked if they are single locked only all i have to do is twist the key the wrong way and i just double locked the cuffs using the key in the keyway what does that mean to us well if let's use this side now if you're using your little key and you're like you're like me and i'm like i can barely even determine which way the handcuffs are facing on my wrist if you twist it one way you're like ah dang how did that how did that work okay well now i just double locked the cuffs on me so you you just kind of worked against yourself right by using the torque against the key right by twerking the wrong way so that is something to keep in mind is that these cuffs are accidentally a little bit more difficult to get out of it's still quite easy if you have the key um but see if you twerk it the wrong way you now just double lock the cuf e bit more difficult to get out of it's still quite easy if you have the key um but see if you twerk it the wrong way you now just double lock the cuffs and now you gotta keep spinning it and there we go now they're released so that is something to keep in mind with these particular model of handcuffs but it is definitely worth if you're going to invest in a set of handcuffs i don't know if i would necessarily invest that much in these to practice on like i would obviously you know get these are the most common the ones people buy all the time to practice on which is great but if you're going to get the smith and wesson and peerless both make this exact model with a hinge and it's a hinge that does not flex as much as this so if you want to get the most out of your handcuff escape training um go of course start on these but you know just like i mentioned don't keep doing the easiest way over and over and over you can practice different positions uh stress positions different uh different things each time right so these handcuffs like i mentioned are are not quite as popular as these or the peerless models model 700s but they are common enough especially among people who want to hav i mentioned are are not quite as popular as these or the peerless models model 700s but they are common enough especially among people who want to have kind of cool stuff they have that sort of tactical flavor um so yeah that's why we wanted to talk about these because it's a good way to talk about hinged cuffs and also the asp brand themselves which is kind of they you know they like to to think of themselves as kind of the cutting edge of handcuffs and i would agree they are some of their technology is is great like these cores can be you know replaced like i mentioned uh by the user and you can take a different like more high security key whereas these like you can't they're riveted shut you're they're not ever meant to be open whereas these cans so these are like more technologically advanced but the moral of the story is is that just because they're more technologically advanced does not mean they are more high security so that's that's the asp ultra hinged cuffs model 500s if you see them anywhere else so that's those all right so up next we're going to delve into the world of rigid handcuffs now these handcuffs obviously are a step above hinged handcuffs because these style so up next we're going to delve into the world of rigid handcuffs now these handcuffs obviously are a step above hinged handcuffs because these style of handcuffs limit pretty much all movement other than what you can move with your fingers and with your wrists inside the handcuff because they are in fact rigid now uh the reason we're talking about these is because they are some of the hardest uh by the very nature of their construction they're some of the hardest uh restraints to get out of in the world and as such they are widely used now we must remember that there's a there is a very large difference between you know your chain handcuffs your hinged handcuffs and now these they're the rigid handcuffs these are more expensive they're also not as easy to carry and we'll talk about that in in just a second but these also have very special considerations for how you can apply them in such a way that they cannot be escaped from even if whoever is putting you in these handcuffs even if they put the key in your hand you're not going to be able to get out of these cuffs and some of the ways that they can be affixed to you so if you remember when in part one we talked about all of the d e able to get out of these cuffs and some of the ways that they can be affixed to you so if you remember when in part one we talked about all of the different ways that handcuffs can be applied to your person well that chart wasn't exactly accurate we left out some stuff intentionally because these rigid handcuffs have a very special thing that can happen and it very much matters whether or not your palms are in or your palms are out that can can be uh very very uncomfortable uh they can be very uh harmful in fact uh in fact most uh when we go back to our are really our only sort of doctrine for restraints you know it's not like terrorists and bad guys are putting out doctrine on how to tie people up right the most all of the doctrine that we have comes from corrections departments and they created this concept called uh stacking so there are things such as a front stack and a rear stack now obviously uh this is kind of hard to explain so we'll show you here in an image and on the left here on the left hand side of the screen images we pulled from i think wikipedia or somewhere on the internet on the left we have what's called a rear stack and that is one palm facing in and one pal e pulled from i think wikipedia or somewhere on the internet on the left we have what's called a rear stack and that is one palm facing in and one palm facing out and as you can see that creates a lot of stress on one of the wrists and likewise on the right side of the screen you'll have what's called a front stack now the front stack is the by far the most common method for using uh rigid restraints um because that's one of the only ways that people tend to not get sued so if you're you know professional usage is a front stack now as we all know and as we've mentioned before bad guys don't care about comfort right they care about uh keeping you under control if that's the situation you're in so it's not like you're going to have a comparatively humane um treatment when used when being illegally restrained with these rigid cuffs and as we'll get into in just a minute uh these rigid cuffs by far have have some of the best ability to control and and harm the person wearing them we have a whole category coming up talking about this but these rigid cuffs can most certainly be used and have been used in the past as a torture method for uh to cause pain to the person who is wearing them hese rigid cuffs can most certainly be used and have been used in the past as a torture method for uh to cause pain to the person who is wearing them so that's something to to to definitely keep in mind is that these rigid cuffs they are some of the least humane humane restraints that we've seen so the three models that we're going to really talk about in this sort of family of rigid handcuffs are the hyatt safari speed cuff which we'll be showing in the video the asp model 650 and really the most popular one which is the tch 840. this is the newer model of tcha40 so for the most part um speed cuffs or rigid handcuffs they're they have quite a few downfalls right and we'll get into that once we get into the video but some of the the biggest downfall for limiting their use for law enforcement usage is uh size weight uh things like that the actual physical characteristics of the handcuffs themselves the fact that some people say they're easier to get on a person who's resisting some people say they're harder to get on a person who's resisting it really just depends but um they're they're really limited usage in the united states has come from the fact that many lawsuits have been lau isting it really just depends but um they're they're really limited usage in the united states has come from the fact that many lawsuits have been launched because these handcuffs when fastened around in a rear position behind someone's back tend to cause a lot of nerve damage muscle tearing things like that so they're not really used so much in the united states however they are used in the united kingdom very very much these are the tch model is the standard handcuff of pretty much all police forces in the united kingdom um and so this is kind of this is just sort of what they use and they use these cuffs because well for many different reasons but they obviously have not had the sort of legal entanglements that the united states has had and um for whatever reason i'm sure you could go down that rabbit hole and figure out why they chose these handcuffs but there are a few downfalls for you know for one as you can see these handcuffs are very large they take up a lot of belt space and american police tend to have quite a lot more gear on their belt lines because for those of you that haven't been to europe this is kind of a side digression but europe the the police forces in europ r on their belt lines because for those of you that haven't been to europe this is kind of a side digression but europe the the police forces in europe have a very different culture it's a totally alien culture to the police in the united states and granted there are some similarities that are coming here to the united states but for the most part you're going to find a lot more officers in the united kingdom wearing full all like tactical gear vests all kinds of stuff so they don't necessarily have to keep all of their gear on their belt line and uh that means that you know people in the united states a lot of jurisdictions within the united states they're of course going to this sort of chest rig slash you know load bearing vest style uh way of carrying gear because it's you know easier on you know someone's someone's lower back but the thing is is that a lot of jurisdictions within the united states still want to have that traditional uh you know you know batman belt uh setup so it makes it hard to carry these cuffs around well what does that mean for us who are who is concerned uh with illegal restraints well that means that in the united states these rigid cuffs are not as ple t does that mean for us who are who is concerned uh with illegal restraints well that means that in the united states these rigid cuffs are not as plentiful they are a lot more expensive than your normal standard chain or even your hinged handcuffs so there's already a price there's our there's already a price uh barrier um chances are your criminals or or even your your overzealous um uh officials who are trying to commit crimes they uh are are are gonna have a harder time uh or they're a lot less likely to carry a rigid cuff because they're just so large um chances are someone who is trying to conceal their intentions isn't they're not going to be able to carry around a pair of rigid handcuffs and we'll talk more about that when we get into the like actual size comparison they're actually much much larger and they're kind of awkward they're heavy there's just a lot of bad things about them now one of the things that still keeps them around are the co or the pros as you can see in one of these images here uh you know a uk metropolitan police officer they're controlling that lady who looks like she's getting arrested on a wedding day i'm not sure where we pull these images from on n police officer they're controlling that lady who looks like she's getting arrested on a wedding day i'm not sure where we pull these images from on the internet but i'm sure someone will find it and drop it in the comments below but as you can see rigid handcuffs make it very very easy to control a person now while law enforcement likes to use that word control right that's a little bit that sort of goes along the lines of how we as in as intelligence professionals we don't use the terms psychological operations we don't do sciops we conduct information operations right it softens it a little bit so when an advertiser or a company tries to say their cuffs offer more control what that really means to us is that it has more opportunities for intentional causing of harm uh for instance if you triple if you are handcuffed behind your back with a normal set of chain handcuffs and you end up running or or trip and fall right um you're not going to be able to protect your face well that's just through the nature of handcuffs but chances are you know you're going to get busted up pretty badly more so than if you were not wearing any handcuffs at all but if you're wearing a set of rigid c e you know you're going to get busted up pretty badly more so than if you were not wearing any handcuffs at all but if you're wearing a set of rigid cuffs behind your back you might break you might break a bone you might break your wrists because they offer that much more restriction so that's something to keep in mind is that these cuffs can be used to inflict pain on people and they often often are they they're they're definitely a torture method for helping to extract information or ensure compliance they are they have a lot more nefarious usages usage means than normal standard like chain or even hinged handcuffs right they have a lot more potential to be used for harm which is why we're talking about them now it should be noted that there are some companies that try to get around this a few of the cons like the size like look at how big those are on the belt well as you can see here on the slide the asp company asp or however you want to say it they created a folding version so that it can stay folded in a pouch or in your pocket and then when they're deployed they snap together or they snap outward and lock and then you need a handcuff key to undo the the little hinge there s and then when they're deployed they snap together or they snap outward and lock and then you need a handcuff key to undo the the little hinge there so they're like a locking hinge method this is quite innovative and kind of an interesting concept but once again they're using the same asp locking pawl and internals so as we all know how insecure that is so just just keep that in mind as there are different variants of these so let's go ahead and jump right into the video and we'll talk more about these all right so let's go ahead and take a little bit more in-depth look at these hyatt uh model 2105 handcuffs now these as you can see you can probably hear these have a lot more tighter tolerances and there are a few security features in here that not a lot of people know about or um well i'm sure a lot of people know about them it's just that not very many people talk about these types of speed cuffs when it comes to illegal restraint escape especially when it comes to things like shimming so as we go back and we take a look at our asp ultra whatever cool name they're calling these ultra hinged cups right um we can remember that these are quite easy to shim so let me just go ahead an ultra whatever cool name they're calling these ultra hinged cups right um we can remember that these are quite easy to shim so let me just go ahead and grab a normal shim here and this is the split pawl variant it doesn't matter goes right in you don't even really need to to feel around a lot you just push it right on in and it's right there just like we showed it's really faster than using the keys well here's the thing these are they're marketed as being high security anti-shim um but as we always as we all know there are there are no handcuffs that can't be uh shimmed especially in single lock mode but these are exceptionally difficult to do so so let me go ahead and take actually let me take a shim that i can break because usually you're going to break i'm going to break the shim when this happens when we take a look in there we can see that there's this plastic lip now this plastic lip let me go ahead and get it out of the way a little bit you have to be able to get past that plastic lip to get down in there and when we take a look at what's inside the cuff let's see if i can get that to focus correctly there are actually three pawls there are three locking lugs let me see doe ok at what's inside the cuff let's see if i can get that to focus correctly there are actually three pawls there are three locking lugs let me see does that help yep there we go so there are three of these bad boys in there and you have to overcome all three so as you can see my shim unless i get it to the like right in the center it's not going to disengage these and if i try to get just one i don't know if you can see that or not it's kind of hard to demonstrate um all three of these pawls move independently of one another so if you take like you're like what we tried earlier with like a really thin piece of metal like say a bobby pin or something and you try to go in there well yeah sure you're gonna disengage this one but there are two others there now the now usually the triple uh paul design is a very very high security method and the tight tolerances on this make getting a shim in there in the first place even if it had a single pawl it increases the difficulty quite a bit so as we can see our shim there's a lot of there's a lot of room in there that shim can move around it's not impossible but it's very very difficult you're going to need a tool at least on these i need a t t of room in there that shim can move around it's not impossible but it's very very difficult you're going to need a tool at least on these i need a tool and you can hear that very very positive click right very positive click so to shim these what you're going to have to do is pretty much the same way but it just requires a lot more effort because now like my uh my shim is in there like it it is uh it's stuck and it's just gonna stay stuck there for a while like i'm trying to push in really hard with my fingers and it's very difficult to do so i'm gonna try using the desk here it's kind of a way to push that see push that shim in there using a little bit of leverage now yeah see i bent it a little bit there at the weak point push it all the way in let's see if we can get a little bit of action yep there we go and see even with the shim look how difficult it is for me to pull it because the tolerances are so tight oh almost so close i could probably able to slip my hand out of there but as you can see um you've got a shim a long way in there so let me see if i can try this again without breaking this shim off i feel like it's gonna break usually it does on these particular cups yea n there so let me see if i can try this again without breaking this shim off i feel like it's gonna break usually it does on these particular cups yeah there when they're broken so there we go got it all the way in and then maybe we can get it out yeah so as you can see this is kind of the same problem that the russian brs series of cuffs has is this the paul placement now let's go ahead and take a look see look at how long the pawls are so even if i take my normal split polish shim here and i shove it down look at that it's not going to overcome all of those at once so you need to have an exceptionally long shim something like an escape saw would be the right length and as you can see i had to drive it all the way in there and even then i got caught on the last couple of teeth whereas we have our smith and wesson model 100s here let's back those out look at that there are only three so really any length of shim any length of metal you know paper clip whatever he could easily overcome those and with the normal normal regular shim here just whoop there we go overcame those very very easily and if we take a look at the asp models and never get tired of shimming these open take a look just whoop there we go overcame those very very easily and if we take a look at the asp models and never get tired of shimming these open take a look at them and they are roughly the exactly the same as smith and wesson very easy to overcome just like that if you look at these on the speed cuff here the sort of high security man look at those those are gnarly like just look at how not only are there three of them so there's three one two three but they're also very very long so you need an exceptionally long shim to overcome them so these cuffs um it's gonna be kind of hard to shim them especially when they're attached to you likewise this sort of accident accidental it might have been intentional um with the asp model here this sort of plastic around the keyhole well it's a little thicker actually quite significantly thicker as you can see here in the shadow it's even hard to see the keyhole right because that plastic over molding is around the keyhole and that prevents the creation of a tool from a bobby pin but just like pretty much any uh handcuff on the market they all fall prey to the same thing what if you just have a key on you and nowadays keys are very very small so even ch any uh handcuff on the market they all fall prey to the same thing what if you just have a key on you and nowadays keys are very very small so even this sort of tiny inconspicuous handcuff key plastic one it takes a little bit of effort to get it in there and turning but it will work if i can get it right there we go so it does work now one thing to note on the tiny inconspicuous handcuff key let me go ahead and grab a normal standard this is our normal standard showmertech hand cookie that's been cut down it was circular but um look at the length of the actual key itself and look at um how we've slimmed this one down well it's because when you put it in you've got to be able to spin it somehow right so you get that key in there and it's got to be able to turn freely around that plastic plastic molding and this one even even this one has been cut down for the specific keyway is pretty difficult to do but let me take it out and show you the other one the tiny inconspicuous handcuff key has this clip on it which is really one of the selling features one of the primary selling features of it it's this very stout clip well you're probably gonna have to snap it off it when using usin selling features one of the primary selling features of it it's this very stout clip well you're probably gonna have to snap it off it when using using it on certain handcuffs that have this plastic over molding around the keyway now it still works but i it's really mushy it's really difficult to get it in there and turn it around you're going to need a lot of leverage right but it still does work and then of course your i mean where is it all right so found i finally found my delta key here the so the delta key it it um it does work but i would not recommend it i have seen it work on other models of handcuff and i think it might be by accident because if you look at the delta key here it's got that split paul right which should work on a lot of different cuffs i haven't been able to get them to work on this particular pair because i think what's happening and this is just a theory we haven't quite taken these apart yet to figure out what's inside them but uh i think you can actually see the key at work when it's in there keys in there you can see just see just a little bit of it maybe reflecting back and forth maybe you can see it turning all dropping all three pawls at once i thi e you can see just see just a little bit of it maybe reflecting back and forth maybe you can see it turning all dropping all three pawls at once i think the delta key once it gets in there like let's see if i can do this without spending 20 minutes getting this key out of the keyway you can push it in and then it won't turn either way and then you can push it in further and it will but it like i am exhorting enough torque on that to to significantly damage the key or snap it off in the kiwi which i don't want but it just doesn't fit this particular model of handcuffs so if you're going to carry a key the delta key is of course a great option but if you know you're in an area where these cuffs are very common you might want to invest in a key that's specifically made for it or even just the key that comes with it because that of course it's metal and of course prone to searches by metal detectors but that's i suppose another another concern now um these cuffs when they're double locked they are they're very very hard to get out of as you can see here the double lock is the peerless style where i can just snap it in and you can see this one's not double locked in this one is a little ou can see here the double lock is the peerless style where i can just snap it in and you can see this one's not double locked in this one is a little pin is pushed forward so that now i it cannot uh cannot open so double lock is fairly easy to disengage on this one so it's not so much a concern for snapping off your key certainly not like um like the the model 100s or or some other cuffs where the double lock is actually a little bit more firm now on these it's pretty light and i don't know if it's a quality control issue or not or what it is but uh yeah these are the ones that are that we recommend practicing on if you're going to if you can get some originally some original um british uk police handcuffs those are far more common in europe so i'm not sure about european laws as if civilians can own them or not that might be something worth researching as i'm sure some nation has a some nation within europe has a uh a restriction on it but if you're going to get rigid handcuffs to practice on get these and do not get the asp brand because just like these where uh the keyholes are on both sides the same thing is in effect with the asp these do not these have keyholes there's nothi ecause just like these where uh the keyholes are on both sides the same thing is in effect with the asp these do not these have keyholes there's nothing here and there's keyholes here on this side and that over molding is way more significant on these than on the asp brand so if you're going to and these are also by the way cheaper these are half the price of those are actually i think a third the price the um the asp brand uh rigid handcuffs i think are like 160 dollars which is outrageous whereas these are like 50 bucks so it's still more expensive than say your normal handcuffs but if you're gonna train train with ones that are a little bit harder to do so that is the uh rigid style handcuff all right and finally before we concluded this episode we wanted to briefly talk about the sort of last category that's very very similar to the fixed handcuffs the rigid cuffs and this is a concept that's more common through throughout our nation's corrections departments but it is also very very common throughout well really anyone can get their hands on this sort of stuff so basically this is the concept of a black box or a blue box now i'll show you here in a minute when we jump to the v eir hands on this sort of stuff so basically this is the concept of a black box or a blue box now i'll show you here in a minute when we jump to the video but basically this is a device it's made out of you know cheap plastic and a little bit of metal and what it does is it basically turns a set of normal everyday standard issue handcuffs into a very extremely high security variant right so these blue and black boxes are not necessarily the most common thing they're very rarely used by sort of you know kidnappers or they're even also very rarely used by your local police department now they are used in the corrections settings so like you know county jails and things that's what these are used at mostly this is their use but considering that we uh you know any citizen in america at the moment can buy these it's still a threat so we wanted to talk about it and show some of the weaknesses and some of the benefits of this system for restraint so let's go ahead and jump right into the video and we'll talk about it a little bit more all right so up next we wanted to talk about the the sort of follow-on to your standard rigid handcuffs and that is the concept of a blue box now this is a ght so up next we wanted to talk about the the sort of follow-on to your standard rigid handcuffs and that is the concept of a blue box now this is a blue box now as you can see we have with some tape on it simply because this shiny metal here causes it to blind the camera so for demonstration purposes we had to cover it up but basically this is a tool which can turn this normal set of smith and wesson or peerless handcuffs once it's applied it turns it into this right essentially but even way more secure than this so one of the things that restraint escape people don't really like talking about and there's not very much content on there in the you know in the sort of internet sphere is is things regarding corrections now it's understandable why a lot of the sort of big names that have been talking about restraint escape and basically a civilian version of you know the first couple of days of a seer course right that kind of content they talk about this and this alone and then at max you might have somebody talking about something like this now we think that is not necessarily an accurate representation of what there is out there in the world this cost 10 bucks online and you know e this now we think that is not necessarily an accurate representation of what there is out there in the world this cost 10 bucks online and you know it was mailed directly to our mailing address right so this is very easily purchased by anyone including bad guys who want to do some bad stuff and when you've when you couldn't consider that this pair of handcuffs was very rich you can get them on amazon right and this was also very very cheap when you add them when you add them together they are unescapable right and we'll show how that happens basically and how these work so we wanted people to be aware that these blue boxes are while yes they are used by corrections we also wanted to note that while corrections departments um don't really like us talking about these sorts of things we have to realize that corrections departments are in our sort of nation's law enforcement is definitely the the experts they're the experts on this sort of stuff um so they develop the doctrine they develop the tools everything you see here was developed for corrections or for law enforcement so they're the only resource out there that uh uses these and since these are so common we kind of have to go for corrections or for law enforcement so they're the only resource out there that uh uses these and since these are so common we kind of have to go back to the doctrine right so so these have been around for a while and they've been around really in the scene of the um corrections departments right so uh and this is sort of why it gets kind of touchy to talk about because while these are extremely common they are in every single jail every single sheriff's department every single correctional law enforcement facility in the united states and around the world as well most of europe has these as well the issue is that not a lot of people want to talk about this because it's a corrections thing and see that's the problem is because we are having to resort to uh learning about this sort of topic in the field of lock sport which is what we're really talking about here this gets into the area where locksport uh it gets into a little bit of you know legal trouble or gray area that you know people tend to not like us talking about this stuff because it's used in corrections well here's the thing that's the only resource we have we do not have any other resource for learning about how to f because it's used in corrections well here's the thing that's the only resource we have we do not have any other resource for learning about how to defeat these when it comes to maybe you know someone illegally detaining us detaining us with with this type of technology so we have to research a lot of times you know how prisoners escape and things like that it does not of course mean we condone this behavior right we we um we of course don't uh we're not trying to prevent legal lawful detention this video series is of course talking about illegal detention and see the thing is though is that you're never going to be able to convince anyone that that's the case right so uh the point being is that the corrections atmosphere and community is really where we get most of our research for this product now this product itself is known as a blue box or a black box now these been around like i said since really the 70s when they became very popular and they arose out of a need through once again our corrections institutions so our nation's corrections determined and they sort of figured out pretty much instantly that these handcuffs right here uh were pretty much worthless when it comes t orrections determined and they sort of figured out pretty much instantly that these handcuffs right here uh were pretty much worthless when it comes to security bad guys and prisoners have a very a lot of they have a lot of time to sit around and think about how to get out of these and as you can see even lawful citizens like us can get out of them very easily as well so can you imagine what a criminal could do whose life is spent around getting out of these right so the point is is that they needed something new and they needed instead of purchasing these instead of purchasing a brand new system they needed to be able to retrofit what they already had so thus the black box or in this case a blue box i think the first one was actually a black box and then another company came out and created the blue box but there are a couple of different variants but they're mostly all the same and they're meant to cover up they're meant to do a few things but first of all they're meant to cover up the keyholes of a series of handcuffs so the way you apply it is just like this put the handcuffs in there lock them in put it down as you can see it's clamped like that and take this steel sleeve and u apply it is just like this put the handcuffs in there lock them in put it down as you can see it's clamped like that and take this steel sleeve and put it over there and then of course this is where the corrections part comes in this is where your belly chain would go through and be fastened around behind the prisoner so the prisoner can't get out so that turns a normal set of handcuffs not only are you turning a normal set of handcuffs into a rigid pair of handcuffs but you're also covering up the keyholes right so there is no possible way to get a key in these handcuffs without or even a bobby pin or even you know something like a bobby pin or safety pin or something they can get at that keyhole and exploit that vulnerability of that keyhole there is no way to do it with with this blue box still on so that's one of the main parts of the blue box and if you start trying to figure out how to exploit this blue box a few people start in the wrong way so they look at the construction of the box they look at okay it's made out of hard you know abs type plastic maybe i could get some kind of escape saw or something and and try to exploit it that way well that's really not the way to d ou know abs type plastic maybe i could get some kind of escape saw or something and and try to exploit it that way well that's really not the way to do it because uh based on the construction of this you'd have to saw through a lot of stuff and you might as well just you know you're gonna have to cut through a good portion of the cuff as well also this is a hardened steel uh clasp that holds it shut now another good way to look at the exploitation of the hint is of the hinge right so unfortunately this uh hinge type setup is um is sort of a captured type system so you would think or we have tried on previous models uh we've got several of these that we practice on we've tried ripping them down and figuring out how to exploit them and it turns out that you can't knock these pins out because the pins go in like this instead of one pin going the entire length it's two pins going like this so that's how this particular black box or blue box in this case can't be exploited but here's the thing we're looking in the wrong spot because there is one critical flaw to this blue box system and it is one that renders this blue box completely and utterly useless so how do we really go about expl is one critical flaw to this blue box system and it is one that renders this blue box completely and utterly useless so how do we really go about exploiting this if the hinge is not a viable option and would take too much effort to go through if it would be very hard to cut through this this hard abs plastic there's really no way to get at the keyholes how are we going to exploit this well the trick here is not exploitation it's bypass so one of the uh key differences with this type of system and the normal handcuff is that uh this type of system it we're not trying to once again going back to the very very beginning of this series we're not trying to beat the equipment in this case we're trying to beat the operator and here's how we're going to do that so this is a corrections type of thing right it has a culture about it that that when and when someone who would be using this looks at this and sees this they see oh dang that's high security same mentality here right same exact mentality we're not necessarily we can't beat this technology but we can go around it so here's one of the fatal flaws that i'm sure many people have already figured out already once you put this thing in t ology but we can go around it so here's one of the fatal flaws that i'm sure many people have already figured out already once you put this thing in there you know you start double locking the cuffs right and you double lock them and then get that good solid solid click right many of you have probably or probably didn't hear the click on this side of the cuff well that's because me and my haste to put these on someone only double lock this side so this side's double locked but if you can see here i can click this one see so these are not double locked and that's the exploit that's how you exploit these uh the black box and this right here leaves the black box itself sure i can't get in the keyholes but i can use the good old-fashioned shim and let's see if i can get in there um doing this while looking through the viewfinder is very difficult okay got it sort of in there i'm gonna continue pushing down okay get in there a little bit more and here we go so that's one of the ways to exploit this system it's really the only way to export this system there are so many different cases of this happening and and see this is where we we go back to once again the literature and the document this system there are so many different cases of this happening and and see this is where we we go back to once again the literature and the documentation we have found so many scientific research articles and papers and things like that warning officers right it's an officer safety issue because prisoners in their infinite wisdom they figured out or rather than infinite wisdom infinite time to develop wisdom they've figured out that guess what you don't need to defeat this black box if they forget to double lock your cuffs so that's one of the things that you know most prisoners that are you know you know um you know seriously bad people they watch for and they wait for and the second that their cuffs are put on them and they don't feel that click against their risk wrist it is on and they know they can get out of this stuff and people look at this and see like look looking at this right here if it is uh belly chained around you you're tied up in this right i can't look at these cuffs and see that they're double locked right the person wearing them is the only one who knows they're double locked and that's an advantage for the person wearing them see whereas this right here i can son wearing them is the only one who knows they're double locked and that's an advantage for the person wearing them see whereas this right here i can easily look at a person if they're in front i could look and see oh okay double locked okay double locked right i can i can look and see you know which ones are not which ones are very very easily double locked i can confirm very easily the only way to do that with these is to undo the chain wrap it around the prisoner un pull it out completely out through here undo the padlock that's usually also on it slide this off do this right here pull it open and then double check that's let you know people are lazy and they're not going to do that and that's and that's the unfortunate nature of corrections is because think about it this way corrections officers are once again you know the experts on this technology they they train day and night for prisoner transfer it's pretty much the only thing they do like the corrections is they make sure bad guys can't escape so the corrections industry right not just officers but the industry itself they are the experts and even the experts get it wrong all of the time so here's the here's the the mora ght not just officers but the industry itself they are the experts and even the experts get it wrong all of the time so here's the here's the the moral of the story is that if our experts if our nation's highest security prisons can get it wrong so often guess what your bad guys are probably going to get it wrong a lot more often right you're going to have bad guys that probably just slap a padlock on through there and then they probably probably going to be like a master lock number three or something one of the easiest padlocks to break in the world and then they're you know or they're not gonna double lock it they're gonna padlock you all up like houdini and everything but leave one of the handcuffs or both of the handcuffs not double locked because they don't understand how a double lock works they think oh just putting the handcuffs on makes them magically more secure and then all you need is a piece of metal and you're out you are free right so that's why we wanted to talk about this we're not trying to do anything nefarious with this of course we just wanted to briefly mention this because this is such a cheap product that you can buy this costs you know maybe 10 to 15 bucks h this of course we just wanted to briefly mention this because this is such a cheap product that you can buy this costs you know maybe 10 to 15 bucks depending on where you buy it online and it so it is very uh very very common it's out there it you don't require a license to buy this you don't need a corrections badge or permit or anything to buy this it is out there they are out there and while it is not common we cannot find a single case of a bad guy actually using this on a person here's the thing you know going back to the whole you know risk management uh chart that we you know so love and adore right is that the likelihood of a bad guy using this is extremely low but the severity from what would happen if a bad guy did use this on you is very very very high especially if they know what they're doing so uh it's one of those things that you also need to you know keep in mind is to there are there are hardware out there like this this blue box is just the most common one there are items out there like this that uh can take this standard set of handcuffs and make them way more high security than these right so that's what we wanted to talk about with this last uh last part in standard set of handcuffs and make them way more high security than these right so that's what we wanted to talk about with this last uh last part in this part of the series uh this is definitely not our last video uh when it comes to restraint escape we're going to be talking about a lot more stuff in the next video we were going to begin filming here shortly uh we're going to be talking about uh european style handcuffs or more uh eastern european style handcuffs right some some of the more international options out there just just for those of you that may be traveling in international environments the handcuffs outside the us are quite different than the ones we have here in the us so we wanted to talk about that next we also have a video coming up on basically all of this gear we've mentioned everything from you know your standard handcuff shim to basically your sort of ultra high security handcuff keys and other types of you know international items and things like that so we're going to be spreading this series far and wide is going to be a very long and uh a very in-depth series because we wanted to create basically an encyclopedia of knowledge on restraint escape we didn't going to be a very long and uh a very in-depth series because we wanted to create basically an encyclopedia of knowledge on restraint escape we didn't want to just simply say hey guys this is how you get out of a hank you know a pair of handcuffs you use you know the handcuff key and then that's it no we wanted to show you the ins and outs of every single pair of handcuffs and restraints that we could get our hands on so once again thank you for tuning in so far we're going to start filming that next episode here shortly just like i said but it's going to be a little bit of a difference we wanted to release this video parts one and two first and sort of get everybody's feedback and let us know what you think so we can figure out how to go from there right so thank you once again stay tuned for the next parts in this series and you guys know it always remember to fight in the shade