Avon & Somerset Constabulary: British Police Equipment Part 2

Police Handcuffs

Hiatts have long been the principal supplier of handcuffs to Police in the UK. The company was based in Birmingham and made handcuffs, leg-irons and manacles for more than 200 years. Sadly, production in the UK ended in 2008 when the company was taken over by Armor holdings of USA. Production subsequently resumed in Ontario, California under the brand name of Safariland. Ownership changed again and production was moved to Pittsfield, Massachusetts where the handcuffs are made in the same factory as Monadnock products and are called Hiatt by Monadnock.

Although the Hiatt name is no longer associated with Birmingham (England), there is now a company called TCH producing similar products at the same location. I believe they are now supplying UK Police Forces.

The chain link version similar to the one below did not become personal issue until about 1982. The first of these was probably the Hiatt 1970 model. Before this time, older style Hiatt handcuffs (perhaps the Hiatt Darby model) were kept in Police cars. The example below is a later version, possibly the Hiatt type 2010 from the 1990's.

In the example shown here, the serial number has been filed away from the left-hand side cuff. It is standard practice for any identifying marks to be removed from any surplus Police items prior to disposal. This can include removal of badges, names and officer collar numbers from any equipment (e.g. torches, truncheons) or clothing.

Hiatts chain link handcuffs c. 1990's

Standard issue leather handcuff pouch

'Speedcuffs' or 'Quik-Kufs'

This type of handcuff was rolled out to British Police Forces during 1994. Bedfordshire became the first Police Force to issue these to Special Constables also in 1994. They had a policy of providing Special Constables with the same equipment issued to regular officers. Officers were required to undertake a minimum of four hours training before they could use them. More about this type of handcuff can be found here.