Part 5 of 5: EQUIPMENT CONSIDERATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS
Questions about restraint security are legitimate. Can a restraint be manipulated? Can it be shimmed? Can it be picked? Can someone escape from it?
Those questions can tell us something about a mechanical restraint. They do not tell us everything about the security of the restrained subject.
Testing a mechanical restraint in isolation and evaluating an actual law-enforcement restraint process are two different things. The real-world question should not simply be, “Can someone defeat this restraint under some set of circumstances?”
What opportunities does a properly trained officer give a restrained subject to do so?
Was the subject stabilized? Was control established before the handcuffs were applied? Were the restraints properly applied, appropriately fitted and double locked? Was the subject systematically searched with the intent of actually finding something? Was the subject properly managed and observed during transport?
Those questions evaluate the entire restraint process, rather than one piece of equipment in isolation.
Every properly executed step removes opportunity. Every skipped step gives some of that opportunity back.
