LA POLICE GEAR Sector Boots

There’s no arguing that we spend hundreds of hours debating what the best gear is to carry. From guns, to knives to even watches and flashlights we consider every aspect of the item we select from each category. While all of these items are instrumental to carry we seldom think about the gear that is carrying us, our footwear. It wasn’t long into my career as a firearms instructor and an outdoors writer that I swapped from wearing sneakers as my default to wearing boots on a full-time basis.

This decision didn’t come from wanting to look “tacti-cool”, it came from sheer necessity. Let me make one thing abundantly clear, I spend a stupid amount of time on my feet. At the end of the day, I don’t experience some cutesy relief when my boots come off and tell the wife “oh geez my dogs are barking from walking to the water cooler all day”. It’s more of a full-body footgasm followed by a Jurrasic-Park like crash to the couch.  I spend literally 14 hours a day walking, teaching, humping gear, or at least standing behind (or in front) of a camera. It got to the point to where my ankles were starting to suffer from overuse and the only footwear that would help keep me going needed some sort of support far past the heel, meaning boots. While I have had a plethora of high-dollar options at my disposal no matter how well they are built and no matter how long they hold up they all have one thing in common, they all start to stink eventually. For that reason, I quickly saw the futility of buying super expensive boots and trying to wring every bit of life out of them. After this epiphany, I started trying out budget-minded skins with the idea of more routinely replacing them to always keep fresh leather wrapping my money makers.

The LAPG Sector boots are built with this in mind. With a modest price of right around $70, it’s easy to toss them when they start to get funky. I strapped a pair on right before COVID-19 kicked in and spent my “quarantine” getting used to what would soon become my go-to all-purpose boot. The Sectors come in either a 6” or 8” variety, depending on what you prefer. If you have a narrower build and/or strong calves you are likely to find the 6” more than adequate for your needs. I opted for the 8” boots because need the extra support and I spend a lot of time in the sand, so those extra two inches made a big difference in keeping the grit out from between my toes. In addition to having to jump 8 inches, the grainy little bastards also need to get through a completely waterproof design that is reinforced by gusseting and a tight side-zip system. If you’ve never owned a pair of side-zips you don’t know what you’re missing. This style of boot is designed to be laced up once and then never again. I can’t tell you how many pairs of boots I have bought that just sat by the door because I was too damn lazy to lace them up every morning.

My first day in the Sectors was quite surprising indeed. I found them to be comfortable right out of the box, which is unusual for full-sized boots.  I’ve had some disaster break-in periods on a few brands, almost to the point where they wound up in the garbage. Of course day one had to be a 12-hour shift teaching four sets of new gun-owners how to load and fire their new firearms should ANTIFA decide that CHAZ needed a small expansion. The boots did very well during their introductory chaos that is my life. The laces were tight and stayed that way throughout the entire range session and not a grain of sand found their way in.

Throughout my testing, I took these boots on a few other “adventures” to include a squirrel hunt through some rough terrain and miles of walking indoors on tiles floors. The outsoles of the boots are made with a combination of course and fine tread that helped me to maintain stability on any surface, wet or dry. The center of the sole even has some scalloping that is intended to help climb ropes and ladders. I’m not getting up a rope anytime soon, but I can attest that this design worked great on ladders, as I wore these boots through the quintessential corona-cleanup that every homeowner was subjected to….especially the married ones. At the time of this writing, I have been wearing them continually for three months and they haven’t shown even the slightest sign of giving up even despite their lightweight design.  I’d estimate at least another 6 months of satisfactory use with them, if not more. At this price and comfort, the LAPG Sector boots are capable of everyday wear and they even held a polish very nicely to keep ‘em looking new. Of course, the best polish is just tossing them and getting another pair! For more info visit LApolicegear.com