Editing Handcuffs (section)

===Plastic handcuffs===
{{Main|Plastic handcuffs}}
{{Unreferenced section|date=November 2013}}
[[File:Yugoslav EPWs detained in Kosovo by the USMC's 26th MEU (July 1999).jpg|thumb|Zip-tied [[Serbia and Montenegro|Yugoslav]] [[prisoners of war]] in July 1999, following the [[Kosovo War]]]]
Plastic restraints, known as wrist ties, riot cuffs, plasticuffs, flexicuffs, flex-cuffs, tri-fold cuffs, zapstraps, zipcuffs, or zip-strips, are lightweight, disposable plastic strips resembling electrical cable ties. They can be carried in large quantities by [[soldier]]s and [[police]] and are therefore well-suited for situations where many may be needed, such as during large-scale protests and riots. In recent years, [[airline]]s have begun to carry plastic handcuffs as a way to restrain disruptive passengers. Disposable restraints could be considered to be cost-inefficient; they cannot be loosened, and must be cut off to permit a restrained subject to be fingerprinted, or to attend to bodily functions. It is not unheard of for a single subject to receive five or more sets of disposable restraints in their first few hours in custody.

However, aforementioned usage means that cheap handcuffs are available in situations where steel ones would normally lie unused for long times. Recent products have been introduced that serve to address this concern, including disposable plastic restraints that can be opened or loosened with a key; more expensive than conventional plastic restraints, they can only be used a very limited number of times, and are not as strong as conventional disposable restraints, let alone modern metal handcuffs. In addition, plastic restraints are believed by many to be more likely to inflict nerve or soft-tissue damage to the wearer than metal handcuffs.