Deputies from the Carroll County Sheriff’s Department exhibited their newly installed Hammerhead bumpers during the Mississippi Sheriffs Association summer conference in Biloxi and the Mississippi Association of Supervisors summer convention.
Sheriff Clint Walker said the department had the bumpers installed on four vehicles – three Dodge pickups and one Dodge Durango -- to protect them during pursuits and from “all the deer” in Carroll County.
“It’s better to keep them on the road than in the shop,” said Walker. “We expect to put one on a Ford Explorer.”
According to the Hammerhead website, the company’s engineers use finite element analysis (FEA) to create the strongest bumper at the lightest weight possible, providing safety and strength.
FEA is used by engineers to help simulate physical situations and thereby reduces the need for physical prototypes, while allowing for top performance of components as part of the design process of a project, according to TWI-Global.
Operating out of Bay Springs, Miss., the company aims to provide one of the most durable bumpers on the market to law enforcement throughout the state, Ty Brooks, with Hammerhead, said.
“We’re local; we’re in the community. We have them on our vehicles,” said Brooks. “We’re here to bring something to emergency vehicles that no one else can.”
Walker said Hammerhead representatives used the department’s vehicles to display the bumpers’ design at convention.
The bumpers are meant to be durable and custom-designed for each vehicle, according to Hammerhead.
“Hammerhead lets you do everything from mud riding to rock climbing without the hassle of constant repair or the stress of damaging your truck,” the site stated. “All of our products are produced using tooling which ensure that the next bumper is within millimeters of the first bumper.”
The company donated the bumpers to the department at no cost to the county, said Walker, adding he was proud of the vehicles and appreciative to the Carroll County Board of Supervisors for providing funds to pay for the new vehicles.
While each bumper costs about $2,000, they keep vehicle repair costs at a minimum, according to Brooks.
“You hit a deer, the damage could be up to $10,000,” said Brooks.
However, with the bumpers, vehicles are left relatively unaffected, he said.
