Once a small home-based firm, L.A. Police Gear is one of the fastest-growing police and tactical gear suppliers.

Sean Frank spent 10 years with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) before leaving to start his own business. He focused on products that he knew very well – police and tactical gear – and launched L.A. Police Gear Inc. in 2001, operating out of his home. Today, according to Internet Retailer’s 2007 edition, L.A. Police Gear is one of the fastest-growing police and tactical gear suppliers in the country.

His experience as a SWAT team member and patrol officer gave him an intimate knowledge of the gear police officers use. The products also extend to military and security personnel and what Frank refers to as the “adventurer group.”

L.A. Police Gear has focused on Internet business from the beginning, getting its start selling products on eBay for the first year. “During that first year, I learned about how to get the products out and how to get companies to sell to you,” he explains. “It’s difficult when you’re working out of your house. Slowly but surely, my wife and I had a lot of success on eBay and then started focusing on a Web site, putting more products there and getting more orders.

“The more products we add, the more orders we’re getting, and we’re following that form aggressively, keeping costs low and adding brands that I know people in this community need.”

By 2004, Frank says, his house and garage were overwhelmed by products and his wife, Kim, was single-handedly shipping close to 100 packages per day. The company moved into a small warehouse and continued to expand its space until its most recent move to a 17,000-square-foot warehouse with office space. The new facility has allowed the company’s sales to triple, and giving it greater capacity to handle orders.

‘Still Lean and Mean’
L.A. Police Gear now serves global clients and takes “care of the individual first, and that individual will go back to his unit or department and tell the people who make big purchases about us,” Frank explains. “We give them the best price, and we let customers be our ambassadors. We haven’t had time to develop an outside sales force, but that may be an area of future growth.”

Kicking Butt
L.A. Police Gear offers a range of products that includes apparel, footwear, tools and weapon accessories. With a few exceptions, anyone can buy the products without qualification. For example, customers buying batons in California must fax in a security card. “Anything else that’s controversial, we stay away from,” Frank says. Apparel is the company’s strongest category, he adds.

The company recently launched its own line of tactical footwear, and Frank’s field experience helped the company develop the products. “When I was a SWAT team member, I had to run around an obstacle course once a month,” he explains. “We would wear lightweight boots, but they fell apart in six months and cost $200 a pair. We developed our own footwear that we can sell for as low as $40 each. They’ve only been out for six months now, but no one has called to complain of it failing.”

L.A. Police Gear will soon add its own line of jackets, and plans to continue to experiment with private label items as it strives to remain a competitive force in the industry, he says.

“Several things have made us kick butt in the industry – best pricing and trying to operate on the lowest margins and do more volume,” he says.

As for staffing, “We look for people who understand our work ethic,” he adds.

According to at least one of the company’s suppliers, that approach seems to be working. “As [L.A. Police Gear is] one of our top customers, I have had the great opportunity to work closely with Sean Frank,” says Dan Costa, CEO of 5.11 Tactical. “I know that much of LA Police Gear’s success is credited towards his creative and entrepreneurial sales approach.

“Sean has an innate ability to put himself in the customer’s shoes, which provides a refreshing shopping environment and a great deal of customer loyalty,” he adds. “I look forward to being a part of what L.A. Police Gear will do to continue to stay ahead of the competition and remain in a league of their own.”