A Louisiana Town Turned Their Curfew Into the Goddamn Purge

If you’re not familiar with the Purge film franchise, for my money the best explanation of what it is and what it’s really about is this article by Leslie Lee III that gave me a new appreciation for films I had avoided assuming they were just schlocky exploitation and a bit to close to the classic Japanese thriller Battle Royale.

But we’re not here to analyze the class politics of The Purge films or even the class politics in the Rick and Morty episode that parodies The Purge. We’re here to talk about why the f**k the Crowley, Louisiana police department thought it was a good idea to use the siren from those films signaling the start of the purge to announce the beginning of their curfew because of the coronavirus.

The local news from KATC reported that, for some reason, the police chose this siren and then claimed they didn’t realize where the siren was from.

Police say they received mixed reaction from the public following the alarm. Crowley Police chief Jimmy Broussard tells us he had no idea the sound was associated with “The Purge”. He also tells us he doesn’t plan on using any type of siren moving forward.

Bull. S**t. One of the neighboring communities to where I grew up had a curfew for kids under 18 and when the it was time for curfew they simply sounded the fire whistle. Why would police drive around playing the siren from The Purge movies if they didn’t know what they were doing? It’s the sort of  thing you’d expect from the police in a Purge movie, quite frankly.