Bad Brunette Girl With Handcuffs

In the past, police officers typically handcuffed an arrested person with his or her hands in front, but since approximately the mid-1960s behind-the-back handcuffing has been the standard. The vast majority of police academies in the United States today also teach their recruits to apply handcuffs so that the palms of the suspect's hands face outward after the handcuffs are applied; the Jacksonville, Florida Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department are notable exceptions, as they favor palms-together handcuffing. Also, suspects are handcuffed with the keyholes facing up (away from the hands) to make it difficult to open them even with a key or improvised lock-pick.
Because a person's hands are used in breaking falls, being handcuffed introduces a significant risk of injury if the prisoner trips or stumbles, in addition to injuries sustained from overly tight handcuffs causing Handcuff Neuropathy. For this reason, the police officers having custody of the person need to be ready to catch a stumbling prisoner. The risk of the prisoner losing balance is higher if the hands are handcuffed behind the back than if they are handcuffed in front.