100 and 150 will be described as handcuffs for conventional placement about an arrestee 39 s wrists although the apparatus of the present invention could be applied to other appendages such as an arrestee 39 s ankles or the like as will be understood the device of the invention is particularly useful in the case of a resisting arrestee the housing assembly 300 comprises an outer casing 400 a spool member 500 shown in phantom in fig1 and in full in fig2 a ratchet handle 600 having a ratchet connector 630 and a ratchet release 660 ratchet handle 600 is preferably of a suitable thickness so that it may be easily and firmly grasped in the palm of a user 39 s hand the handle 600 may however also have a further handle extension 610 for gripping engagement in a vertical plane shown more clearly in fig2 while such handle extension 610 is optional it is shown herewith for purposes of illustration there is also an attachment member 700 connected to the housing assembly 300 having attachment means 750 preferably in the form of a snap clip or the like positioned on the end thereof the attachment member 700 cooperates with an anchoring.