Patent application for 'shocking' handcuffs filed

Handcuffs in the future may be a literally shocking experience for criminals, if this new patent becomes reality.

 

Patent website Patentbolt.com said the patent could apply to ankle cuffs, straitjackets, neck collars, helmets and even facial restraints.

 

"The next generation handcuffs will be super high tech with built-in sensors such as accelerometers, potentiometer, inclinometer, biometric sensors, camera sensors and more. But the kicker to this invention is that these future handcuffs will be able to combine standard restraining mechanisms alongside those that could deliver a powerful electric shock to detainees and/or administer medications to sedate or irritate them," it said ().

 

Potential for abuse But it also noted the mechanisms in the patent may have "potential ... for abuse in the form of mild torture."

 

Such an invention may have to be carefully monitored and legislated to exacting standards so that the "good guys" walk the line on this one, it added.

 

Citing the patent, Patentbolt.com said safety mechanisms may be included in the control system of the restraining device and/or controller.

 

This would prevent a detainee from receiving greater than a predetermined nonlethal amount of electric shock in a predetermined period of time.

 

Also, the patent calls for a warning light or tone when shock is being administered or is about to be administered.

 

Medications

 

But Patentbolt.com said a "fascinating yet potentially horrifying twist" to this patent is that it can deliver a substance such as a drug or medication to the detainee.

 

"The substances may include any substance capable of being stored or delivered by the restraining device to achieve any desired result, and may be a least one of a liquid, a gas, a dye, an irritant, a medication, a sedative, a transdermal medication or transdermal enhancers such as dimethyl sulfoxide, a chemical restraint, a paralytic, a medication prescribed to the detainee, and combinations thereof," it said.

 

A separate article on Gizmodo.com said the patent application from Scottsdale Inventions LLC shows "what seems to be a pretty well developed prototype of handcuffs that will shock the wearer into submission." — TJD, GMA News