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

The Political Economy of Crime Scene Cleanup

The political economy of crime scene cleanup works something like this, and I will not bore myself with the facts and details found at crime-scene-cleanup-cronyism. (I do need to work on this web site, though.)

Crime Scene Cleanup with Insurance
Many if not most of the crime scene cleanup jobs with home owner's insurance go to the crony companies because they control the sources of distribution of work. That is, they are in with the coroner's employees, medical examiner's employees, county administrator's employees, homicide detectives, and others. This is not the majority or even a small majority of the aforementioned government employees, but a very tiny percentage. How could it be otherwise? They are not about to share the golden egg with their employee peers.

These jobs represent the most lucrative jobs, and many can be done by one cleaner in two or three hours and the company invoices reflect $6,000, $8,000 and even $30,000 charges.

Crime Scene Cleanup without Insurance
These are the "crumbs" of the crime scene cleanup business. These jobs come from apartment complexes, small businesses, a few non-profit businesses, police departments, and others.
They have no insurance and pay in the hundreds, not the thousands, for the same type of work.

That's about all I have to say on the political economy of crime scene cleanup today.

Eddie Evans
Crime Scene Cleanup Cronyism

Muslim Suicides

Durkheim used religions as one of his major variables while studying suicide.

I have neglected to research and write about Muslim suicides in the name of Allah. I mean, I did not neglect anything in the name of "Allah." I'm saying that young people commit suicide in the name of Allah, the great and perfect one.

A fundamentalist Muslim has a belief in the Jihad's existence for the last 1,400 years and that dying a martyr is a direct route to heaven. It seems that this ideology is progressing world-wide and has done so in the past, receded, and then progressed again.

It is my opinion that our great and wonderful former president. Bush, gave great cause to join the Jihad throughout the Muslim world. It appears that what President Bush did for the "ownership society" he has done for the war on terrorism by single-handedly recruiting more martyrs then the terrorists have bombs for.

Now, the Koran prohibits suicide, I am told. I have not read it and I don't want to read it and I don't have time to read it if I did want to read it. Anyway, why are all these young Muslim's committing suicide when the very exact, perfect words of Allah prohibit suicide?

It seems suicide is not "suicide" when committed in the name of Jihad, So I see that it is a matter of tricky semantics that are used to send young people to an early grave for their ruling class holy men.

Boy, and to think how these guys must feel and think about modernism!

Eddie Evans
Evans Enterprises

Jesse Ventura on The Drug War and Good Sense

Former governor of Minnesota Jesse Ventura said that the laws against marijuana use are "no different then the prohibition" laws.

Drugs
We can't keep drugs out of prisons. So, what's this drug war all about?
Hemp is a natural resource and was used to write the 'American Declaration of Independence" upon.

He does not see any sense in aiding foreign governments with "aid" when the USA is stone broke and people are losing their homes.

Castro on Kenned Assassination

Castro told Jesse that the assassination of Kennedy was an "inside job."

He says that people do stupid things and that we need to stop passing laws against doing stupid things.

Abortion
Abortion: Religion's failure to persuade so now they want to legislate.

Torture
Torture
We are in a country now that we are in a country that thinks it's OK to torture people.
More than fifty-percent of the people say that it is OK to torture. "I've been water-boarded and it's not fun" It's drowning. "What would Jesus say about torture."

Truth Democrats on Torture
Democratic Party: When both parties are involved and say that "It's time to move on" means that both parties were or are involved, and this is why we are not finding out the truth.

Abu Ghraig
Abu Ghraib pictures should be released for all to see. "I will volunteer to see these picture" to judge if they are safe for the American tax payers (The guys paying the bills) to see.

Leaving the US Navy Seals he was quite athletic, so while attending junior college he enjoyed theater. He found that his interest in theater would go very well with wrestling.

We saw socialism and capitalism fail in Russia and now we are seeing capitalism fail in the USA. It will have to be "a mix."

In China and Cuba there's full blown capitalism below. Cuba uses US dollars.
It has to be some sort of mix.

"The First Amendment is there to protect popular speech, it's there to protect unpopular speech.

While in Los Angeles, Jesse was the "sergeant of arms" of the Mongol's motorcycle gang.

Jesse Ventura is sooo coool

eddie evans
crime scene cleanup

Post Modernism

Postmodernism - In the postmodern a cultural wasteland arises in consciousness as capital commodifies human thought and action. As a result of corporate capitalism's drive to seek profits wherever possible by injecting itself into human consciousness with its control of cultural definitions of the "real" and desirable, society's ideological posture reflects corporate control of publically owned media. It (corporate capitalism) seeks to create fear of stigmatization and isolation of one's self; it seeks to create artificial needs. Corporate capital now succeeds at convincing humanity that humanity is separate from, not part of nature. The consumer replaces the citizen as a political subject.

Much of industrialized humanity now persues consumer life-styles.

Much of industrialized humanity romanticizes male ideals above a reverence for life.

Much of industrialized humanity has a great interest in the "real," but a pornographic understanding of the visible.

Much of humanity experiences alienation, resentment, and a detachment from others as "reality," reflecting an existence directed by conspicuous consumption and relationships definded by commercial values.

Post-modernism reflected in literature tends to create characters with individual perspectives, transcending the modernist "stream of consciousness" as found in James Joyce; now characters may individually interpret one another's "meaning," accurately or not. The question becomes, as in contemporary life, which perspective mirrors nature as we might find in Shakespeare? See Tony Morrison's Sula for an excellent post-modern novel. More importantly, which system of beliefs mirrors actually existing nature, human and nonhuman?

See George Herbert Mead's Philosophy of the Act, as well as his Mind, Self, and Society for a dialectial, evolutionary discription of the postmodern, American Pragmatism's narrative on the relativity of the self.

Eddie Evans

Crime Scene Cleanup Exercises

Hepatitis B Information for the Crime Scene Cleaner

Hepatitis B Information for the Crime Scene Cleaner

Here's another good reason to keep your distance from blood and OPIM. This sucker likes the open air on hard surfaces, transmits by needle or sharps stick easily enough, and can be found wherever drug abuse occurs (our work place often enough) as well as hospitals.

Hepatitis B's infection rate in the USA is about 0.5 percent of the population.
It is primarily transmitted by blood injected from needle stick and sharps. Drug abuse accounts for many cases of this viral disease because of needle sharing.

Instances of mother to child infection during pregnancy occur.
It is also a sexually transmitted disease and annal intercourse proves it to pass about 1:, 3 females for every male. Among male homosexual annal (sodimizers?) appears to equal between receiver and penetrator.

The virus has shown "stability" for seven days on flat, non-porous surfaces in enclosed environmental surfaces, which gives it a potential for "indirect inoculation of HBV" and can "occur by inanimate object inoculation."

It seems clear to me that keeping one's hands in sight at all times, working slowly and deliberately, and avoiding sharps is an important part of cleaning biohazardous environments because of hepatitis B, HBV.

I will continue to fog and/or ozone first, ask questions later, and then spray my way to the scene.
Source: Control of Communicable Diseases Manual, 2008, page 286.

eddie evans
crime scene cleanup

Death Odor

Death Odor - Miasma

The death odor, which I call "miasma," is not dangerous. Unethical cleaning companies will tell you that this odor is "dangerous." If it were dangerous, coroners' technicians, morticians, pathologists, and Pharos' priests would have died shortly after taking up their trades. The dangers from the death scene odor are in the human imagination; even our repulsion to this odor is learned. There is nothing instinctual about our sense of dread as it relates to the death scene odor. (See new car smell)

Like any other odor, miasma consists of evaporating gas molecules light enough to be carried to our noses. Once inside the nose, sensory cells convert these chemical molecules into electrical signals. These electrical signals are then sent to the brain for interpretation. Mix more than one chemical molecule, and interpretation of the "stink" becomes difficult.

Saying that miasma is "dangerous" because of some sort of bloodborne pathogen hazard is like saying that the cherry fragrance from methamphetamine will intoxicate those exposed to benzaldehyde. It is not so. (return)

There are people that actually enjoy the sweet-like fragrance of decomposed matter, I have heard.

Sometimes miasma lingers because of poor ventilation, Sometimes miasma will linger because it has permeated porous materials; fabrics, paper, wood, and more. Miasma, like everything else in nature, will leave the scene. It begins and ends.

I have cleaned murder-suicide scenes left for over one year. As a result of this extended time for biowaste decay, no miasma remained. The miasma creating bacteria died and wasted away . They starved. Interestingly, blood-soaked garments became pink or purple where they had been first blood-red, then brown, then black. Even blood on walls, ceilings, floors, mirrors, and the rest turns pink or purple without leaving an odor, miasma.
I do my best to remove miasma associated with death scenes. However, removing the source material will not always return the scene to its pre-incident condition for some time. Time and heavy ventilation, and removal of miasma permeated materials will help return the scene to a more "normal" condition.

We can apply chemicals to help increase miasma's departure from the scene, but even chemicals have their limits. Ask about our odor control policies and methods if this is a concern.Top

Bloodborne Pathogens means germs carried in blood that cause suffering. Some of these germs are called "bacteria" and some are called "viruses." These germs can cause diseases in humans. These germs include, but are not limited to, hepatitis B virus (HBV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). A simple exposure to these germs and others may be dangerous or deadly.

Many viruses are pathogenic, but none cause miasma. Because viruses lack cell walls that bacteria develop, viruses cannot create odors. Viruses cannot receive and export oxygen and carbon dioxide. They do not "off-gas" the way that germs with cells off-gas. Viruses live directly off their hosts.

Bacteria can live for some time without a host because they store energy within their cell walls. They have their own internal digesting organs. Bacteria can change energy into different forms from within. Sometimes this energy becomes a gas. When expelled, we call it "stink" and at times following a death we call it "miasma." Methane is off-gassed and has no odor.

Even so, we all know that bacteria's off-gassing gives notice of its presence. Following a decomposition, it is this gas that pollutes carpet and padding, wood, walls, paper, cotton clothing, anything "cellulosic."

It is said that the human stomach contains over ten trillion bacteria (10,000,000,000,000). These bacteria must off-gas or explode. Sometimes during human decomposition they do both. The strength of miasma becomes relative to the size, diet, temperature, and other conditions related to the deceased. By way of example, a large male's decomposition after many years of alcoholism and meat eating will create strong miasma when the deceased passes away during summer in Florida. A small female vegetarian's decomposition in front of an apartment window in Wyoming during November will cause much less miasma.

In a sense, bacteria germs belch and flatulate as they undergo changes in temperature and chemical composition. They are in a way like humans: they give and take from their environment, except that these micro-organisms exist within our internal environment. This is one major source of the death odor, the miasma odor released from the trillions of micro-organisms within our bodies as we decompose.

We can see that there is a difference between somehow ingesting or injecting odor causing bacteria and unperceivable viruses. In any case, ingest or inject the the wrong bacteria or viruses, and the results could be deadly. Inhale bacterias' off-gassed carbon dioxide and other gases (miasma) and the results are nauseating at worse.

eddie evans
Los Angeles