Louisiana Police Apologize for Signaling Curfew by Using ‘Purge Siren’

The city of Crowley, Louisiana implemented its coronavirus curfew last week, and in an effort to alert residents of when the curfew was in effect, the police department wanted to use a siren that could be easily differentiated from the identifiable sound of a police car. Little did they know at the time that their choice of siren was taken from the horror film franchise The Purge.

Crowley Police Department chief Jimmy Broussard took the blame, saying he was unaware of the siren’s close association to The Purge, and now plans on ditching the alarm idea altogether, KATC reports. 

Even though the actual Purge siren signaled the beginning of the frightening concept of a national holiday instituted by the government where all crimes were allowed for 12 hours, people in Crowley found the hilarity in the police department’s blunder. 

According to KATC, the siren for the coronavirus curfew, which begins at 9 p.m. and lasts until 6 a.m., generated more than 500 comments on Facebook, with some of the ire getting directed at Acadia Parish Sheriff K.P. Gibson, who took to social media to pass the blame onto Broussard.

“We have received numerous complaints with the belief that our agency was involved in this process,” Gibson wrote. “We were not involved in the use of the “Purge Siren” and will not utilize any type of siren for this purpose. Calls regarding this matter should be directed to the Crowley Police / Chief Broussard and not the Acadia Parish Sheriffs Office.”