That was the good-humored tweet of a British police officer who wound up restrained by his own broken handcuffs and was unable to free himself Tuesday.
Well that wasn’t a good start to the day. Thanks to @northantsfire for cutting me out of some broken cuffs. #NotFunny. I would have laughed too!!
Core Training Sergeant Scott Renwick, with the Northamptonshire police, fessed up to the embarrassing incident after the local fire department tweeted, “Police Officer released from handcuffs after the had failed, used pedal cutters to release.”
Northamptonshire is located in central England, roughly 70 miles northwest of London.
Cuffs are generally fairly sturdy, but some cuff keys aren't. In my experience, most of the time when someone's having to get cut out of cuffs, it's because the tip of a cheap, worn cuff key broke off inside the lock mechanism. Can't unlock it, and can't get the piece out to get another key in.
Back when my wife was deploying peace officers to various troubled parts of the world, she brought home a pair of cuffs transporting them to the training center. Somehow, one got onto my left wrist, and the other on my right wrist. Oops, no keys. I learned to pick cuffs that day with a bobby pin, not all that hard, but it took way longer than I wanted it to. Prob. could have called the cops, but didn't want the shame or the interrogation. Told myself to buy some cuff keys as cheap insurance, but haven't yet done so.
Posts: 7070 | Location: NoVA | Registered: July 22, 2009
Yep, handcuffs are very easy to pick. I've even done some with a thumb tack. Even double locked, a paper clip is all you need. That's not counting other bypasses.
_____________________________________________________ Sliced bread, the greatest thing since the 1911.
Yeah but the pic showed both sides were cut. So either he lost or broke the only key, and no one available had a key, which seems odd, or somehow both locks failed, which also seems unlikely.
Or possibly someone put superglue in both keyholes, which sounds like something I would do.
Also, who the hell puts a set of hinged cuffs on themselves?
Originally posted by k: Yeah but the pic showed both sides were cut. So either he lost or broke the only key, and no one available had a key, which seems odd, or somehow both locks failed, which also seems unlikely.
Looks like you're right, the composition of the photo made it look like both sides were cut on first glance. I still stand by the idea though that superglue in the locks would be hilarious and probably a good way to get fired