If you are talking about needing handcuffs for the purpose of a citizens arrest I would strongly recommend being a good witness and leaving the handcuffing and arresting to the real police.
Before a private citizen can effect a warrantless arrest for a felony he must rely on a higher standard than “probable cause.”
He must have knowledge that the suspect did “in fact commit” the felony. The Court stated that the higher standard of information required for a citizen’s arrest is designed to discourage such arrests and to prevent the dangers of uncontrolled vigilantism and anarchistic actions. Commonwealth v. Klein,
372 Mass. 823 (1977).
THE “IN FACT COMMITTED” STANDARD: The “in fact committed” standard of evidence required to effect a felony arrest only applies to a purely private citizen, i.e., someone with no arrest powers at all. If the private citizen has sworn arrest powers from any city or town within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, he or she may then effect a citizens arrest for a felony on the lesser (but more familiar) standard of probable cause. It is important to understand at this point that just because a person has police power in a particular city or town, it does not automatically mean that they have police power anywhere within the Commonwealth. Their police power only extends to the geographical boundaries in which they are sworn. Therefore, generally, when they effect a felony arrest outside of their territorial jurisdiction, they will be acting as citizens.
WHAT DOES “IN FACT COMMITTED” LEGALLY MEAN? In Commonwealth v. Harris, 11 Mass. App. Ct. 165 (1981), the Massachusetts Appellate Court stated, “[g]enerally, the person arrested must be convicted of a felony before the ‘in fact committed’ element is satisfied and the arrest validated.
If the citizen is in error in making the arrest with a level of information below that of “in fact committed,” he may be liable in tort for false arrest or false imprisonment. “The obvious purpose of this requirement is to deter private citizens from irresponsible action by exposing them to possible civil liability if it turns out later that the arrested party is innocent,” stated
the Court in Harris.
WARRANTLESS MISDEMEANOR ARRESTS BY CITIZENS IMPERMISSIBLE: In Commonwealth v. Grise, 398 Mass. 247 (1986), the Court held that a private citizen cannot effect the arrest of a person for a misdemeanor, even if it amounts to a breach of the peace. This is true even where the private citizen is a Massachusetts municipal police officer from another Massachusetts jurisdiction.
If they are for the bedroom then have at it...just do not lose the key. It is pretty humiliating to have to call the local PD to come over in the middle of the night to unlock you!! Yes it happens!!