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Los Angeles police are rolling out a new siren, and you don’t just hear it. It rattles your bones.
When the New York Police Department started using the Rumbler in 2009, one opponent called it an “acoustic assault” on citizens. But L.A. Police Cmdr. Blake Chow says the new low-frequency siren is the solution to a dangerous problem.
It’s a story that he says plays out for officers far too often. They’re on their way to an emergency with the siren blaring, but a driver fails to clear the path for the police cruiser.
“We had to find a way to get these drivers’ attention,” said Chow, a 36-year veteran and head of the LAPD Support Services Group, which manages core logistical, technical and records infrastructure.
The booming, 10-inch speaker device is intended to connect with drivers who, in the view of law enforcement, are yielding less frequently to emergency sirens. The department announced last month it was installing the Rumbler in a few black-and-white vehicles before a larger expansion.
For Richard Tur, the founder of NoiseOff, an organization that tracks and offers noise pollution solutions, it doesn’t seem necessary for bystanders to feel a siren “pounding through your body.”
The Rumbler is a low-frequency siren. A standard kit includes two subwoofers, an amplifier and a timing module, with costs ranging from $600 to $1,000 per unit, depending on accessories.
Its manufacturer, Illinois-based Federal Signal, says the siren is “highly effective in dense urban environments with heavy vehicle traffic.”
The Rumbler interacts with a standard police siren, which generates around 110 to 120 decibels, and amplifies that sound through its speakers in eight-second intervals. Whereas the blare of a regular siren may bounce off vehicles and buildings, the low-frequency tones “have the distinct advantage of penetrating solid materials, allowing vehicle operators and nearby pedestrians to feel the sound waves,” the manufacturer says.
The Rumbler then plays a prerecorded message, such as “Move to the right,” in English and Spanish, eliminating the need for the officer to do so, according to Chow.
At the LAPD, the Rumbler’s deployment comes with that of a sound and light syncing system. That allows several police vehicles to broadcast a synchronized public safety announcement while flashing the same light-signal pattern.
Greg Field, a 27-year LAPD veteran and director of the Police Transportation Motor Transport Division, noted the sync systems are useful for mass messages, such as at a fire evacuation or an unlawful assembly.
A pursuing vehicle pulls within 5 feet of a motorist, a button is pressed, and a net from the front bumper wraps around the back tires or axle of the fleeing vehicle.