Why I clean crime scenes.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Why I clean crime scenes.

I am a professional cleaner, which means that I earn my living by cleaning crime and trauma scenes - - "niche cleaning." In this field of bio-hazard recovery, I clean after the traumatic loss of human blood, and I do it for money, lots of money when I can get it.

There are other reasons that I clean bloody scenes, less material reasons; for certain, i enjoy being my own boss and making almost all the meaningful decisions in my life. There's much more to this 24/7/365 middle-of-the-night marathon deep cleaning amidst blood, gore, filth, and stink.

This type of trauma cleaning challenges my imagination at times, and at times my Will to move forward. I often ask myself, "Where do I begin and how should I move forward?" as I remove bloody debris. "Can this be cleaned?"

It is best to first make some sense out of the violent act that lead to the crime scene's distortion of the "normal." This way I can map out where I know that I need to clean. I can then anticipate the breadth and depth of blood and other human effluents to be cleaned. I know too that in the last hours of cleaning, I will find debris previously missed and out of the scope of my initial survey of the debris field. It is not that I "miss" any blood or such, but that cleaning means to clean and re-clean, and to revisit the scene from different perspectives and with "new eyes" after taking some time out for a personal debriefing.

This process helps me to recognize and clean blood contaminated furnishings, mattresses, walls, clothing, fans, books, electronics, windows, headboards, baseborards and . . . toys. Knowing the whereabouts and movement of the perpetrator and victim(s) helps to at least limit the scope of cleaning, usually. Sometimes a crime scene becomes the scene for multiple deaths. Perhaps pets became targets. Once wounded, they too may have ran for their lives as their remaining life's blood pulsated onton their once friendly home's floor and furnishings.

I initially wear organic filters on my respirator to protect myself from the unseen, the unknown, and the horrendous odors related to crime and trauma scenes. Once the majority of blood and other potentially infectious materials (OPIM) are disinfected, flushed, or "red bagged," I can take my respirator off and clean a little faster, but cautiously. This is the stage of cleaning where I transition from "tier three" cleaning to "tier two."

At tier two, the physical hazards should be gone, ninety-percent of the blood should be gone, and the scene should be safe to invite others to view the scene. Still, one never knows about "sharps" like syringes, knives, razors, rebar, broken glass, skull fragments and pieces of broken bone ("shrapnel") embedded in walls, ceilings, floors, and furniture. They may still be present in the beginning stages of "tier two" cleaning, "high tier two."

By "tier one," my job is nearly done. The scene will soon be safe for Molly Maid-like cleaning, safe for family members to begin cleaning, and safe for restoration contractors to restore what the violence destroyed and I destroyed.

Carpet, floors, ceramic tile, linoleum, drapes, furniture, bedding, and more may need to be replaced. What I destroy must be destroyed. No one else should ever witness the offending object's defiled state, ever. This is why I clean, besides the money. I really do clean to help save others from experiencing the horrendous, the unimaginable violence and distortion of a crime and trauma scene.

When done cleaning, I gain a genuine sense of accomplishment. I know that I have returned a scene to something more "normal." I have relived others from this task because of my skills, abilities, knowledge, and my Will to overcome the horrific.

I know from experience that there is more to crime scene cleaning than money. The naive and unsuspecting, the inexperienced and sensitive may suffer from exposure to a crime and trauma scene.

I can help ease their pain by helping to restore the scene to a more biologically balanced environment. Besides helping others, I too benefit it seems. It is odd how life has its rewards in the least desirable places.

I hope these ideas have shed some insight into what I do, why I do it, and why others may not want to try cleaning crime and trauma scenes.

Ed Evans
Crime Scene Cleanup