(UTV | Colombo) – The infamous “The Purge” franchise deals with an American society in which, for a 12-hour period once a year, all crime becomes legal including murder. In the films, a distinct alarm siren goes off in cities across the United States signalling the start of each ‘Purge’.
Over the weekend, the police department in Crowley, Louisiana announced in a now-deleted Facebook post that its units would blare ‘an audible alarm’ distinctly different from the ‘regular sirens’ to announce a citywide curfew was in effect due to the coronavirus pandemic. With this curfew, no one is allowed to leave their homes until 6am the following morning unless they have special employment documentation.
Unfortunately it seems the audible alarm they chose, what was said to be an old military siren, is the exact same distinctive alarm from “The Purge” franchise. So, once video of the alarm in action went online, the internet had a field day.
In the wake of that, Crowley Police chief Jimmy Broussard told KATC (via Blue Lives Matter) that he was unaware that the sound was associated with the action-horror franchise and said that going forward, no type of siren will be used to announce the curfew.
The Blumhouse-produced “Purge” franchise has a fifth film on the way soon.