Continuing with a short series about the kinds of boots that motor officers wear (in the United States… I have to remember that a huge number of visitors to this blog come from outside the U.S.)….

While I was at the staging area for the Law Ride, an event that was held on May 13, 2012, in Washington, DC, I looked at the boots that the motor officers who were there were wearing. Interestingly (or should I say, “disappointingly”), there were relatively few motor officers wearing Dehner patrol boots.

Why?

First, the event was not well-attended by real cops. More than a thousand supporters were there, but only 32 cops from about 10 agencies. That was disappointing since in years past, as many as 500 cops attended from agencies all over the United States and Canada.

Another reason why few cops were wearing Dehner patrol boots is the jurisdiction where they came from. Most of the jurisdictions represented were from agencies in Florida, Georgia, and mid-southern Virginia, and the motorcops in those agencies wear either Chippewa Trooper Boots or Chippewa Hi-Shine Engineer Boots, not Dehner boots. The Chippewa Trooper Boots have a similar appearance as bal-laced Dehner patrol boots, and the Chippewa Hi-Shine Engineer Boots are “lace-less” as the dress instep Dehner boots are, to meet a need/request from cops who don’t like boots with laces.

I guess another huge factor with “missing Dehners” at this event was that the cops from Fairfax County, Virginia, didn’t come this year. They have one of the largest motor patrol units that I am aware of. When they roll in, you know it by their large numbers, skilled riding, and commanding presence. These cops wear Dehner boots with a double sole and dress instep (not laced), and those boots look very good on them. But for some reason, they didn’t ride in this event this year.

Cops still wear Dehner patrol boots, but many more choose boots made by competitors that are available at less cost. When the world economy tanked in 2008, we all saw a downturn in what our public servants could do, such as even have a motorcycle police unit in a law enforcement agency (some motor units were discontinued due to perceived high cost of motorcycle maintenance, overtime for motor officers, and a perception of low return on investment.)

That economic downturn also forced some cops to continue wearing old boots long past their useful life, and when they have to replace them, choose to purchase boots that cost significantly less, because they either didn’t get a uniform allowance, or got a reduced allowance, and many had to suffer from a pay freeze. All these economic factors affected simple things like the interest and ability in purchasing a pair of boots that cost about twice as much as others. (That is, stock Dehner patrol boots retail for about US$400 while stock Chippewa boots retail for about US$200.)

Oh well… we still see Dehner boots on cops and will continue to do so, but we’ll also see other choices of boots on motor officers for the reasons I described above.

Life is short: know how the economy affects choices of boots (but wear them anyway)!