Rumbler Siren
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Safety and Health Concerns »
The Money Trail »
Legal Considerations »
New York City Police Department »

One thing that is hard to take for me when I go into our cities,
is the dam sirens, I have hearing aids and that makes it a 2x hit.
any way we need to rethink the siren,
I heard somwhere in Japan they started to use bells, can be heard from far
has calming efect when need most.
So now the Rumbler!


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Summary
The Rumber is a siren system for use in police cruisers as a means to catch the attention of motorists with an ear splitting sound that can be heard and felt. Police departments who purchase the devices are promoting the Rumbler as a new high-tech police siren. Its use presents a new form of urban blight where residents are made captive to an intense low frequency noise that is detrimental to public health. The sirens contribute to urban blight, turning communities into ghettos.

The siren emits low frequency duplicate tones that according to its manufacturer, Federal Signal Corporation, "have the distinct advantage of penetrating and shaking solid materials allowing vehicle operators and nearby pedestrians to FEEL the sound waves, and perhaps even see their effects through a shaking rearview mirror."

Federal Signal Corporation markets the device as an intersection-clearing device in urban environments with heavy vehicle and pedestrian traffic. A competitor product called the Howler Low Frequency Tone Siren, from Whelen Engineering, is also designed to produce low frequency noise on emergency vehicles.

The siren can be heard and felt from a distance up to 200 feet away. It easily penetrates into nearby homes and apartments even with windows closed. A secondary effect of the Rumbler siren is its ability to set off vibration-sensitive car alarms.

In law enforcement parlance, 'Code 3 Response' is a mode of response for a police vehicle responding to a call; it mandates officers to move through traffic with the police cruiser lights flashing and sirens blaring. However, the use of sirens is also used for non-emergency use at the discretion of the officer, even when department policy specifically discourages its use other than emergencies.

Not unlike its military cousin, the Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD), this technology allows police to use sound as a weapon at the push of a button.



Rumbler Siren
The electronic components that comprise the siren. In addition to a primary siren amplifier and speaker, a secondary amplifier blasts the siren noise through a pair of high output woofers. It uses a safety timer to sound off after ten seconds, but an officer can simply restart the siren at will.






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Safety and Health Concerns
Noise pollution is unwanted human-created sound that has the effect of being annoying, distracting, painful, or physically harmful. People exposed to noise pollution suffer from hearing loss, sleep deprivation, chronic fatigue, anxiety, hostility, depression and hypertension. World Health Organization, National Institutes of Health, United Nations and numerous scientific and medical publications recognize noise pollution and its deleterious effects.

The intense sound caused by the Rumbler siren easily triggers an involuntary stress response commonly known as "fight or flight." This results in the secretion of adrenaline, with ensuing spikes in cardio-respiratory rates, muscle tension, and elevated blood pressure. Vibroacoustic Disease is a cumulative and chronic disease caused by exposure to infrasound. Infrasound is low frequency sound energy that affects the nervous system and prolonged exposure can lead to progressive medical conditions.

Federal Signal Corporation issues an explicit warning in its own marketing materials that its "sirens and speakers may cause hearing damage." Whelen Engineering advises operators to wear approved hearing protection.

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The Money Trail
Federal Signal Corporation is the manufacturer of the Rumbler Siren. They are a supplier of audible and visual signaling, warning equipment, and communications equipment for the industrial marketplace. Federal Signal Corporation is a member of the National Association of Electrical Distributors (NEAD), a trade group.

The Whelen Engineering Company, Inc., is the manufacturer of the Howler. They design, develop, and market audio and visual signaling devices primarily for law enforcement, security, and the military.

As police departments demonstrate the Rumbler siren to promote itself through local news media, Federal Signal Corporation collects the media placements on its website. The implicit message is that purchasing the Rumbler siren is a means for police to generate headlines.


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Legal Considerations
While the Rumbler siren is promoted as an intersection-clearing device, most police departments that buy them have no real traffic. The Lower Allen Township in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania has a population of about 17,437 residents, yet their police department purchased Rumbler sirens for its two police cars. Montgomery, Pennsylvania has a population of just 1,695 residents and their police department saw fit to purchase the sirens as well.

Washington, D.C. police have 49 cars equipped with the siren. As the department phases in new vehicles and retires its older fleet, the department intends to have all its marked patrol cars equipped with the device by 2012.

Over a hundred police departments have purchased the Rumbler device. This is a partial list of municipalities that are known to have deployed the siren:

Amarillo, Texas
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Alexandria, Virginia
Springfield, Missouri
Reading, Pennsylvania
Dauphin, Pennsylvania
Montgomery, Pennsylvania
Cumberland, Pennsylvania
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Tulsa, Oklahoma is known to have purchased the Howler device for its fleet of ambulances.

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New York City Police Department


NYPD Demonstrating the Rumbler Siren
In New York City, the NYPD demonstrates the Rumbler siren. The NYPD is considering whether to initiate an "education campaign" so that the public will not be afraid of it.



When the NYPD first announced its use of the Rumbler siren, the news media failed to ask any critical questions and largely treated the story as a novelty.

The NYPD purchased and installed the equipment with no oversight, no public hearings, and with no evident liability for the massive noise pollution they are about to inflict on citizens, all in the name of public safety. The New York City Council has oversight of the NYPD through the Public Safety Committee, chaired by Peter F. Vallone, Jr. The Speaker of the Council is Christine C. Quinn. To date, they have not commented on the issue. With no further inquiry from legislators, New Yorkers are subjected to bone-rattling noise as the sirens are now in widespread use by the police.

The offensive noise contributes to a sense of menace and hostility. For residents who live anywhere near busy thoroughfares and any of the dozens of police precincts around the city and the boroughs, it presents a serious noise nuisance. The Rumbler siren is equipped in 150 police cruisers in lower Manhattan.

In one newspaper article, an NYPD official suggested that New Yorkers should take it in stride, "the way New Yorkers do". Evidently, that includes families with babies, young children, the elderly and people who are convalescing. Considering the elevated noise levels New Yorkers endure for lack of adequate noise code enforcement, the hubris expressed by the NYPD is breathtaking.

Robert Martinez is the NYPD director of Fleet Services. In an article published in the Wall Street Journal, he claims that the sounds emitted from the device registers lower on the decibel scale than the traditional siren sound.

Sirens are designed to emit sound directionally from the front of the vehicle to alert oncoming traffic and pedestrians; the Rumbler uses low-frequency sound that is non-directional. Low-frequency sound energy penetrates windows (including double-paned windows) into residents apartments that can be heard and felt.

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Take Action
Lobby you local legislators against the implementation of the Rumber device. Meet with police officials and discuss the issue of noise pollution from this type of siren.

Talk to your neighbors and organize; work with community groups and raise the issue against this type of siren.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/14/2012 01:56AM by riverhousebill.

Awesome. This is awesome. I'd like to get one for the daycare where I work. Hours of fun.

Seriously, though, I have seen too many near collisions of oblivious doofs with speeding ambulances to believe this is an inherently bad thing, Bill.

I read an EMT training book years back and the chapter on Abulance driving said the siren and speed are only needed in less than 1percent of the runs if you have a compt EMT crew. It also stated siren and speed somtimes is a sign of Emts not trained well, and in a hurry to dump off at hospital. then It went on to how many Abulances are involed in wrecks, not all just the goofs although no shortage on both fronts I think.
We have a Abulance in my small country town, and every run is speed and siren?
Remember the fire trucks years back were mostly bell, and a good bell can be heard
as well as a siren, a bell can match the desicible of a siren



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/14/2012 09:22PM by riverhousebill.

riverhousebill,

I live in a large, densely populated suburb of Detroit, near both a police station and a firehouse. I am telling you my gut says it seems that fewer people are aware of sirens when driving and that the incidence of near crashes with idiots that literally aren't seeing the flashing lights or that everyone else's car has stopped moving is increasing. I'd be surprised if standard car stereos haven't gotten more deluxe and if this wouldn't explain the trend I think I'm seeing. My casual observations aren't scientific, of course!

If you don't like those boom cars spewing out all base music that it literally shakes the surroundings then you won't like the new sirens. Someday they will be able to just move aside any obstacles!

I think it's an assault (sometimes the military uses the same sound tactics in standoffs) on our health. The typical boom car is obnoxious, and disorienting to my senses.

When I heard some months ago they were going to be using those tactics I thought that more accidents will happen due to some drivers being startled, and reacting out of fear and haste. Not only will it cause more harm than good for anything living in its vicinity, but it may send some unstable people over the top.

Also, it won't stop those people that don't pull over now for emergency vehicles. That population will continue doing what they do because they have no common sense or concerns for others. Giving out tickets and fines would be a better deterrent. Why not mount cameras on the front of the emergency vehicles and take down license plates just like those traffic cameras are used. Then the rest of us won't be assaulted.

Is there a petition somewhere to sign?

Love,
Prism

Huh, Prism, this:

Quote

Why not mount cameras on the front of the emergency vehicles and take down license plates just like those traffic cameras are used.

is a great idea!

A bell sounds like a good solution to me. Or even the lower pitched sirens, dual-tone sirens. The ear splitting screech of the curent one is too much for my sensitive ears, always has been.

FWIW, I think they go a bit overboard with all the flashing lights too. Does nothing but add to all the confusion of the accident, fire, etc.

veganjuice Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> A bell sounds like a good solution to me. Or even
> the lower pitched sirens, dual-tone sirens. The
> ear splitting screech of the curent one is too
> much for my sensitive ears, always has been.
>
> FWIW, I think they go a bit overboard with all the
> flashing lights too. Does nothing but add to all
> the confusion of the accident, fire, etc.

Any decibel level over 85 will damage your ears if exposed long enough. the siren is well over. Also people should be aware that hearing loss is acuumitive every bit you hear over 85 is damageing your ears. My ears are like you would call gone Amry, grateful dead,
G.M. motors ect.

If you have not read the WHO report on efects from noise polution you shoud, it may shock you how much your health can be efected by our noise poluted citys
Be kind to your ears!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/17/2012 03:20AM by riverhousebill.

Bill, is this anything like LRAD? LRAD can kill people. X.X

Sound is so important. Every animal in the forest fills a specific frequency to create a type of sonic bubble. When human cities impinge upon the forest, certain birds, etc., will start to chirp louder to maintain the bubble... which is integral to being on a little-understood (by mainstream science) fractal level.

I am SO HAPPY I don't live in the city anymore. The sirens drove me so mad. They were so constant. I actually, no joke, slept with construction earmuffs most nights because it was the only way I could get any peace (and that, really, is not so peaceful).