I have no problem with this. Handcuffs are for the public and officer safety. Also for escapes. They turned themselves in, so I don't see why they would run. The six officers don't have a problem with the police (politicians maybe), and understand that this is their job and they must do it weather they agree with it or not.
Requests are often made not to handcuff in front of their children, in front of co-workers and such. If an officer feels secure in the situation they may honor the request. I have seen it done.
The six LEO officers voluntarily turned themselves in, so it seems like a non-issue to me, but could be wrong.
From the article, "Officers in Freddie Gray case taken to jail without handcuffs,"
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/freddie-gray/bs-md-bpd-video-20150528-story.html ""While an individual turning himself in is not a regular occurrence, it is not unusual when an agreement is made between attorneys, the office of the state's attorney and the department for individuals to turn themselves in to a predetermined location where they will then be taken into custody," Lt. Sarah Connolly, a spokeswoman, said Wednesday..."Doug Ward, director of the Johns Hopkins University's Division of Public Safety Leadership, said policies allow officers to exercise discretion when using handcuffs on suspects."They were not going to run or resist," he said. "They were cooperating."'
Additionally, I didn't know about various methods of restraints LE departments may use and various issues LE face when detaining/restraining individuals and how involved methods are.
According to article "Safe Prisoner Transport - Follow these best practices for moving arrestees between facilities,"
http://www.policemag.com/channel/patrol/articles/2013/05/safe-prisoner-transport.aspx different restraints are used depending on circumstances.
From the article, “A common misconception is, ‘They’re handcuffed so they’re safe,” says Harmon. “If I have my hands cuffed behind me, I can still kick you, knee you, head-butt you, bite you, wrestle you to the ground, shoulder-butt you. I can do a lot of things with my body as an attack to create a lot of harm on the officer.”...“The training that we give officers on what we call our procedure of stacking includes constant monitoring of the subject, not being complacent in your duties,” adds ASP trainer Harmon.
Jmo/