FRANKLIN LAKES, N.J. – The door-to-door salesman could soon be a thing of the past, at least in this New Jersey town.
The "No-Knock Registry" that's being considered by Franklin Lakes would allow residents to bar solicitors from their homes. Addresses would be put on a list that would be given to salespeople who apply for canvassing permits. If solicitors approach those homes they would be subject to a fine of up to $1,250 and a one-year loss of their permit.
The Franklin Lakes council is expected to vote on the registry, modeled after the National Do Not Call Registry, at its Dec. 14 meeting.
"They're very high pressured and they're very aggressive," Mayor Thomas Donch said of some salespeople. "This ordinance is probably overdue."
One resident recalled a recent encounter with a pushy salesgirl.
"She was here for, I'd say, probably a half-hour to 45 minutes while I was trying to get rid of her," said the woman, who identified herself only as Cindy.
A No-Knock list "would be a good thing," she said.
Roja Singh, a five-year resident, said her doorbell hasn't been rung by salespeople but she likes the idea of the list.
"You're tired of being treated as the consumer all the time," she said. "Inside the house ... that's the space you really want to keep separate from being marketed."
Singh also said, with teenage and preschool-age sons, she worries about who might be knocking.
Under the proposed ordinance, salespeople would be fingerprinted and photographed. Their names also would be run through a national database to see if they have a criminal record. If so, "they may not be allowed to solicit in Franklin Lakes," Borough Administrator Bob Hoffmann said.
The No-Knock Registry would be updated twice a year, on Jan. 1 and July 1. Residents would sign up with the borough clerk and have the option to purchase a sticker to display their enrollment on the list.
The number of solicitors seeking permits in the affluent borough has increased steadily, as have complaints from residents.
The peak selling season occurs during the summer, Franklin Lakes police Sgt. Jack Bakelaar said. Many salespeople are younger folks from out of state. They sell magazines, books and cleaning products.
"We get complaints one right after the other," Bakelaar said. "It takes up a lot of time."
Residents have called to say they are concerned about the solicitors' demeanor, that the product they're selling seems fraudulent or because they hang around the neighborhood waiting for a ride, he said.
"I know some residents who have purchased things ... just to get rid of them," he said.
The No-Knock Registry only would apply to for-profit groups. Charitable, nonprofits, governmental and religious groups would not be subject to the restriction. No-Knock registries in other parts of the country that included nonprofits or religious groups have been ruled unconstitutional.
Several Ocean County, N.J., towns have similar laws in place.
Those were spurred by the June 2004 murder of a 77-year-old woman by a teenage magazine salesman.
In Dover, the first in New Jersey to enact a registry, sign-ups were slow going. After 10 months, only about 100 homes out of about 35,000 had registered.
Since then, after newspaper articles, word of mouth and mailings, 6,500 residences have registered.
"If we save one bad thing from happening, it's accomplished its mission," Dover Township acting Municipal Clerk Mark Mutter said.
