Sheriff's Office gets ready to "rumble"

ESCAMBIA COUNTY, Fla. - You don't have to listen closely to hear the sound of an Escambia County Deputy heading your way. The Sheriff's Office is installing a new state of the art sound system called the "Rumbler" that is literally turning heads.

"As far as I know, we're the only agency on the Gulf Coast using the rumbler system," said Sgt. Ken Simmons with the Escambia County Sheriff's Office.

Deputies say the goal of the rumbler is to not only see and hear the sirens, but to feel them. "We've all been at intersections or stop lights and heard the guy with his radio next to you bumping, this is similar to that," Simmons said. "You can feel it and it's a siren sound."

Deputies say the rumbler is really just a big sub-woofer that duplicates the siren at a lower frequency sending slight vibrations into your car.

The Sheriff's Office already has four cruisers with rumbler systems, but that's just the start. Sheriff Morgan's plan is to have all of the cars outfitted with the rumbler system," said Simmons. "We're starting with the newer model cars which are $400 a piece. So yeah, we'll get to them."

Which means there will be more and more rumbling down Escambia County streets.

"It's a new concept, we'll see if it works," Simmons said. For now, it sounds and feels like it will.

Deputies say the rumbler system can only be activated for eight seconds at a time. They can also switch it off if "rumbling" isn't necessary.