What kind of counter custody tools should you carry? And how should you carry them on your person? These are two complicated questions, and there are no blanket answers to either of them. You really have to do your homework first, and you have to ask yourself “am I at risk?”
While this may sound simple enough, there are a lot of factors to take into consideration. These include (but are not limited to):
CEOs are likely to be targeted for kidnapping for ransom in certain countries. In some places, home invaders tie up or handcuff their victims. Many people around the world are in or have been in relationships with obsessive spouses or mentally unstable family members. Some people live near mentally unstable people through no fault of their own. Carrying concealed counter custody tools might in these situations may be a life safer provided you have the proper training to go with it.
It is assumed that the kidnapping is being done for ransom (i.e. for monetary gain by the criminals). Kidnapping for political reasons by extremists groups requires a different kind of threat analysis, and to escape from the custody of an extremist group you would need military style SERE training.
Once you have done your threat analysis, and decided that you are at risk, you need to decide on what to carry. To do this, you need to find out what is available to the criminals where you are. If you can buy handcuffs from any camping/military supply store, then you should invest in handcuff keys. You also need to consider what brands of handcuffs are common where you are. While universal handcuff keys will open most handcuffs, there are some that take different keys. In some countries (in Europe in particular), rigid handcuffs are more common than handcuffs with chains. If you are at risk of being placed in those kinds of handcuffs, then you need a key that can perform the “reach around” technique as shown below:
You also need to have redundancy with what you carry. A handcuff shim will only work on single locked handcuffs, so you will need a handcuff key to go with it – or something to pick the double lock. I would also suggest a friction saw made from a length of Technora cord for cutting zip ties, duct tape, and rope.
Once you have your kit, you need to get a training partner and practice escaping the restraints under realistic conditions. This is critically important! Without training, a counter custody kit is nothing more than a collection of talismans. They tools and if you don’t know what the right tools are, how to carry them, how to conceal, and how to use them efficiently under pressure than there is something wrong with your planning. You have to train, and the training has to be honest high pressure training. If you aren’t fucking up and getting yourself stuck in the exercise you aren’t learning. By the time you are finished training you will be fairly familiar with the basic tools, how they work, what their weaknesses are, and where on the body they can be effectively concealed while still being easily accessed by you or your fellow captives (for if/when you are taken prisoner as part of a group). There is no way around this kind of training, nor are there any short cuts. Don’t fuck around with the training, unless you want to set yourself up for failure later.
