Yeah full disclaimer: This is a screenshot of something my friend posted and not my experience. I'd imagine it would hurt, but maybe I could practice it with ... a very trusted friend lol

[–] skulblaka@startrek.website 47 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Zip cuffs are basically impossible to remove without a sharp edge. Metal cuffs are a lot easier to get out of.

Source: my dad's ex cop friend tested this with us at his bar

[–] thurstylark@lemm.ee 19 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Important note: zip ties (what is being discussed in the OP), and zip cuffs (cuffs that are made from similar material and tech) are very much NOT the same, and cannot be treated the same way.

[–] superduperenigma@lemmy.world 9 points 9 months ago (1 children)

The OP specifically says "zip tie cuffs," not zip ties.

[–] LinkOpensChest_wav@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I could ask the dude who posted this what video it was from, but he might not even remember. This was posted months ago in a discord server, and I just happened to have it as a screenshot on my phone. It's very possible that the YouTuber was mixed up or wrong and didn't know the difference. I know I didn't know there was a difference until this thread.

Anyway, I've only ever had cops use handcuffs on me, never zip cuffs/ties. I don't think I've even seen them used in person.

[–] superduperenigma@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

Anyway, I've only ever had cops use handcuffs on me, never zip cuffs/ties. I don't think I've even seen them used in person.

Generally I think they only use zip cuffs during larger crowd control operations, protests for example. Saw a ton of them during BLM protests in my city. You can see them on the left cop and some of the background cops if you zoom in on this pic I took

[–] LinkOpensChest_wav@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 9 months ago

Clearly, I need to get more involved

[–] AngryishHumanoid@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago

"ex cop...at his bar" Yep, that rings true.

[–] Milk_Sheikh@lemm.ee 17 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Police “Flexicuffs” are legit, and designed to prevent this technique from working. The ‘smash against hard surface to break’ works on regular zip-ties, the kind a kidnapper or rapist buys from the hardware store

Picking handcuffs is indeed trivial, and basically all models are vulnerable to shimming under the ratchet pawl as well as using the (nearly) universal keys that are cheaply available online

[–] discostjohn@programming.dev 1 points 9 months ago

Ah yes, the classic shimmery Rachel paw technique. I too am a master of lock picking.

[–] _MusicJunkie@beehaw.org 8 points 9 months ago

I tried it once with some household zipties, I could do it but it did hurt a lot. Dunno if the police use stronger ones, I would assume so.