Happy Mother’s Day – Mom’s In Public Safety Roles

As Mother’s Day quickly approaches, we ask…how will you be treating your mom, wife or grandmother this weekend?

Galls Celebrates The Women of Public Safety on Mother's Day

Will you go the standard route of Sunday dinner and a gift or will you do something extraordinary?

And, is there really anything better than just spending time with your mother and letting her know how much you care for her.

Most of us fully appreciate the efforts and sacrifices our mothers made for us as we were growing up. Though, like most adults, we don’t fully understand those efforts until we become a mother or a parent ourselves.

Many of our mothers – and wives – are also working moms, actively contributing outside the home as well as inside.

In public safety roles – law enforcement, fire fighting and emergency medical response – women have long been serving their communities and providing protection to citizens.

Take a look at some of these numbers:

• There were 111,000 female police officers per the 2009 census
• There were 197,000 women who were active military per the 2009 census
• The U.S. Fire Administration reported there are close to 11,000 female firefighters in the country

Fortunately, the number of women working in public safety roles continues to grow. Their progress through the ranks also continues to grow with numerous examples of women heading up departments as police and fire chiefs. These leadership roles help encourage more young women to consider rewarding careers in public safety.

Galls salutes all women working in public safety and we wish everyone a safe and enjoyable Mother’s Day!

(pictured above is Santa Monica,CA Police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks)

How To Take Care Of Your Duty Boots

Like your mother always told you – “buy the best you can afford and then take care of it!”

So you’ve got a new pair of duty boots. You paid good money for them and you want to keep them looking nice.

Most duty boots cost between $60 and $175 dollars.

How do you stretch your dollars and make those duty boots last a long time?

You can’t be expected to clean your boots everyday. With work, family and other obligations it’s just not possible.

However, there are some basic techniques for keeping your duty boots looking good for a long time.

• Try to brush off any dirt that accumulates over the course of a day – with a rag, that could take about 30 seconds
• Adding support soles to your duty boots help them last longer – and you’ll be more comfortable
• Getting dirt off helps your boots look better immediately and helps make a more intensive cleaning a lot easier
• Remove the laces when you do a deep clean – polish or other cleaners may hurt the laces’ elasticity
• A basic soft brush works wonders for cleaning boots – and you can use an old toothbrush for hard to reach spots
• Mr. Magic Clean Erasure works wonders on scuff marks – or you can use the time honored pencil erasure
• A wet sponge will get most caked on dirt off (but follow up with a brushing and drying when done)
• With leather boots, apply a leather conditioner to replace the natural oils – about a 3 minute process
• Use shoe trees to help the boots maintain their shape and for the leather to not crack – people think shoe trees are only for fancy shoes, but they’re great for duty boots also
• This is obvious, but don’t leave shoes outside, in the car or near extreme cold or heat
• If you have multiple pairs of boots, alternate usage – wear one pair one day or one week and then change it up

If you want to go all in and spend $20 as an investment in your boots, get an inexpensive shoe kit like the Bates Shoe Care Kit. This shoe care kit for duty boots has polish, cleaner, a sponge, shiner, brushes and a handy carrying case.