Cop Boots: Ankle Breaking Decides It

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of continuing the ongoing, in-person conversation with a group of motor officers who are considering recommending that they change the boots they purchase and wear on duty. I blogged about this before.

Currently, these officers wear Dehner Patrol Boots with a dress instep. The boots look great. However, the stock boots use cheap plastic "Dehcord" (made by Clarino) which cracks and breaks. So most of these officers opt to buy the more expensive but much more durable European calf leather Dehner Boots. The problem is that the boots are very expensive and their uniform allowance doesn't cover the expense of the uniform (breeches, shirts, belts, etc.) AND these very expensive boots as quickly as they go through them with duty wear-and-tear.

Yesterday, they booted up in different boots offered by Chippewa, Intapol, as well as Dehner. The rode their Police Harley motorcycles on a skills course and put their bikes and their boots through the paces.

I could describe a lot more, but what it all boiled down to was what began as a side discussion, but became the major issue: boots that "break" (or bend) at the ankle badly are unacceptable (see photo above). Unfortunately, calf leather boots tend to do that. So it's not only the expense, but also how the boots break in that make a difference, and these guys are so busy that they're not all that interested in taking the time to "train" their boots to break a certain way. They just want to pull 'em on and ride!

Some of the cops wearing Intapol Boots thought that they had the same "breaking" problem that they had with Dehners. Those who tested the tall Chippewa Hi-Shine boots didn't seem to have the same problem. Besides the cost, this is also probably why so many other motor units around the country use these boots for duty wear.

They will make their recommendation to their superiors: Chippewa Hi-Shine Boots it is. The discussions and the chance to observe yesterday's trials was interesting. (I didn't bring my camera to take pics yesterday. It just wasn't something I could do in this particular situation.)