CHICOPEE — During its May 6 meeting, the City Council approved a new city ordinance that creates rules for door-to-door sales, which aims to protect vulnerable residents from scammers.
Some key takeaways include that door-to-door salesmen will now require a license from the police, police will perform background checks on anyone over 15 years old before issuing a license and door-to-door sales can only take place between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.
Ward 5 City Councilor Fred Krampits explained that the only thing that changed in the updated ordinance was adding background checks for door to door sales.
“The rest of the proposed ordinance did not change out of the Ordinance Committee,” he stated.
Ward 2 City Councilor Shane Brooks said he was originally concerned about how the city tracked the door-to-door vendors, forcing the new ordinance to be written.
“While they were registered, that’s a pretty liberal description of what was happening with the Police Department, there weren’t any background checks and I took a page from my line of work where we typically quarry anybody 15 years or older who are going to interface with the public and some of the most vulnerable population, [particularly] our seniors,” Brooks said.
By adding the requirement, Brooks said, “I think we’ve strengthened this to really help protect the residents of the city. Not only does it delineate the hours in which people can be approached, it ensures people know that folks who are knocking on their doors are properly credential and have been background checked through the Mass. state CORI system.”
While door-to-door scams may be less common today, many local municipalities have warned their communities of people giving away money to a product or company that doesn’t exist.
Ward 3 City Councilor Susan Goff talked about the new ordinance and explained, “If someone cannot prove they have a license, you can now call the police. Hopefully this will help protect some of our most vulnerable residents from scammers.”
She also suggests that residents place a “no solicitation” sign on their door or parents’ door.
The ordinance also states if a person is supervising a group of people under the age of 15, that supervising person shall undergo a criminal record.
The chief of police or their designee will have authority to grant one such license and licenses are valid from the date of the day on which they are issued and, unless sooner revoked by the Police Department, shall continue in force for one year from such date.
The Chicopee Police Department stated, “If you have questions about someone in your neighborhood, don’t hesitate to call and question if they are doing it properly. We hope that by implementing these measures it will reduce door-to-door scams and fraudulent services.”
