HANSON – Aggressive sales techniques employed by door-to-door solicitors – in particular those recruited from other states to represent a pest control company that has allegedly been encouraging that approach – has led to a special order from Hanson Police Chief Michael Casey.
He has advised his officers if they get even one complaint – or if they even see a solicitor going door-to-door – check to see if they are registered and, is toughening the department’s requirements included in their solicitor’s permit. [See below].
Much of it is on the onus of a homeowner to simply articulate to them, “I don’t want you on my property,” according to Casey.
Casey spoke with the Select Board at its Tuesday, July 22 meeting amid the growing problem of door-to-door solicitors in town.
Select Board Chair FitzGerald-Kemmett said a resident had recently been asked by a resident that the board consider a ban on such solicitor, frightening or upsetting one elder resident to the point that she fears anyone she doesn’t know personally.
“Quite honestly, it is a bit of an invitation for a scofflaw to pull baloney,” she said. “I don’t know about you guy, but the hackles on the back of my neck stand up if someone’s coming to my house uninvited. I’m not into it at all. … They’re not going to get a warm reception.”
She argued that there are so many other ways for people to solicit, including cell phone texts, emails, phone calls and mass-mailings.
“What’s even more concerning is that some of these companies aren’t even from Massachusetts,” she said. “They’re not even Hanson companies.”
She said she will ask town counsel to look into and suggested to Casey that Hanson consider a negative consent approach.
“In other words, we’re going to assume there’s nobody in town that wants you to solicit, and, if you want to … then you can opt in,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.
Vice Chair Ann Rein noted she has been bothered by solicitors, noting that several are college students recruited to represent companies out-of-state to canvass in Massachusetts to make sales.
Rein, who raises chickens and bees in her backyard, said she recently had a solicitor from Utah.
“They were very nice young people,” she said. “But, of course, they come to my house and try to sell me pest control. I said, ‘Go in the backyard and look what’s back there. I don’t think I want it.’ … I’m not mad at those kids, they’re just doing what they were brought out here for – it’s the companies, so how do we deal with that?”
FitzGerald-Kemmett reminded the board and pubic that, right now, solicitors are required to register at the police department to solicit door-to-door in state communities. Political and religious canvassers are not required to, because it is considered a First Amendment right.
“I don’t even think people are registering and I don’t think they look up if they need to register,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.
Casey said he got right on the issue after speaking with FitzGerald-Kemmett and researched soliciting regulations.
“I actually, was one of the ones that got a call regarding one of our citizens that was aggressively solicited – overly – to the point where he came up to Town Hall and spoke to someone on the Board of Health, which then called me,” he said. “It’s not a burden to us, what’s going to stop [aggressive tactics] now, is really holding their feet to the fire, where before, we maybe didn’t.”
Casey tracked down the solicitor, who turned out to be from Alabama, and made him void the $189 per month four-year commitment for pest control he had convinced a resident to purchase.
Out to dinner the following evening, Casey said he was approached by another resident, whose mother, whose care aide was approached by an extremely aggressive sales efforts.
“We do have a by-law that requires certain steps,” he said.
They must register with the police, and must present a placard identifying who they are and who they represent.
“All that does for us is give us the authority to immediately tell them to cease and desist and to remove them [if necessary],” he said.
During his 30 years as a police officer, Casey said, they would hear about problems with people knocking on doors two or three days later.
“Obviously, this company, itself has been very aggressive throughout the couple of towns, so it’s caused some attention, so I put out a special order,” he said. “I kind of upped the ante.”
New requirements for solicitors will include: they must visit the station for a background check and solicitors must apply three days before they arrive in Hanson.
The permit is $5, an amount that FitzGerald-Kemmett said is ridiculously low.
“I’ll tell you right now, no one checks in and it is frustrating – or, let’s give it the benefit of the doubt, I think the kids don’t know to check in,” he said. “But the companies know it, and they’re just advising the kids that if the cops get called, we’ll deal with it then.”
The bylaw also levies a $300 fine to the company if they do not check in and we then encounter them.”
It is a civil penalty, but Casey said Hanson Police can draw up a citation to issue violators.
The department would also have to maintain a no-knock list of addresses from which they must stay away.
“But you and I know that you might even be on a no call list and you might even be getting spam calls,” he said.
Yarmouth Police which maintains such a list has told Casey that such a list is a “nightmare,” because it has to be constantly updated.
Casey suggested giving his new bylaws time, in the meantime, when they register, he said the notice would be posted on a media feed that they will be in the area, including a full description.
“If you see them, and you don’t want them, immediately call us,” he said.