A siren made familiar by the horror film The Purge was used by the police department of Crowley, Louisiana to notify Acadia Parish residents of the start of a coronavirus-enforced curfew.

Citizens complained about the similarity of the sirens, recognisable from the film in which for a 12-hour period all crimes are allowed – the beginning of which is signalled by a distinguished siren sound.

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Crowley Police had told residents of Acadia Parish that the curfew siren would be different to regular sirens, but Crowley Chief Jimmy Broussard told KATC he was not familiar with the association to The Purge – and that the sound effect will be changed moving forward.

Crowley cops really went around town playing the purge siren to announce the curfew ???? pic.twitter.com/dSY88mkPRq

— Pat Hundley (@patrickhundley_) April 3, 2020

A statement was released by Acadia Parish Sheriff, K.P. Gibson, on behalf of the department: “Last night a ”Purge Siren” was utilised by the Crowley Police Department as part of their starting curfew. We have received numerous complaints with the belief that our agency was involved in this process.

“We were not involved in the use of the “Purge Siren” and will not utilise 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 Sheriff’s Office.”

The fourth, most recent, Purge film in the franchise to be released was The First Purge, a prequel instalment that reached cinemas in 2018.

An anthology TV series was also launched in 2018, currently comprising of two seasons of 10 episodes each.