Name/Title
Sussex Police Hiatt model 2050 hinged handcuffs c1990Entry/Object ID
81Description
A pair of hinged nickel plated Hiatt 2050 model handcuffs. Marked, "Hiatts, Made In England". With one key.Use
To restrain prisoners. Of a type used by Sussex Police between the 1980s and the mid 1990s.Context
The Hiatt 2050 hinged model was part of the Hiatt company's "Snap On Range" introduced in 1982. This model was double locked by pushing a pin, which was on one end of the key, through the hole between the lock plates. This prevented the cuffs from getting too tight.
Hiatt were a Birmingham based company that made restraints from at least 1780, and whilst best known for handcuffs, they manufactured other police equipment throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. The company ceased UK production in 2008 following increased scrutiny over some of its products and their use abroad.
In Sussex Constabulary then Sussex Police, handcuffs were only personally issued to all officers from the mid to late 1970s, and the commonest in use were the older Hiatt 1960 model. However over time more modern models, including this particular pair, were issued in Sussex. These hinged models were used in the force until the mid 1990s when all handcuffs were recalled and replaced with the Chubb "Detainer" model.