They don’t attract kitchen-type cockroaches- the small German ones that flee from light. They attract wood roaches aka palmetto bugs- which light doesn’t bother at all. These are huge, and fly [there’s always one that gets in the house when you have guests coming through the door and flies in a circle through the living room just to humiliate you before it dies] but thy are nowhere near as prolific or as disgusting as kitchen roaches. Palmetto bugs are very slow, and eat dead leaves and fallen fruit, and given a choice they would rather be outside in the boots of a palm than in the shoes in your closet. When you squish orfrighten them they smell like almond extract which is intended to deter predators but actually smells good. They make great fish bait.
Get guinea hens or chickens. Problem solved... though chickens are a little leery of the big mature ones because the big ones are able to use the hooks on their feet to grasp and hang on to the nostrils of the chickens and put up a quite a fight before going down the hatch. Gives new meaning to the term “roach clip.” Guineas are not intimidated and will often kill them for the hens.
Having one buzz your guests keeps them from lingering too long...