No one ever thinks it’s going to happen to you: your home suddenly turned into a crime scene. It turns your world upside down. Gone are peace and security and in its wake are grief, trauma, and bloodstains.
How shattering it is to learn that on top of everything else, the task of crime scene cleanup is your responsibility. Nowhere does law enforcement or local government step in to handle it, which comes as a surprise to many L.A. property owners.
The reality is that once the coroner, police, and E.M.S. personnel release a crime scene they’re gone. The most they may do is advise you to call a crime scene cleaner and pass along the name of a reputable company.
LA Crime Scene Cleaning Is Emotionally Taxing
As crime scene cleaners in Los Angeles we have seen it all. Any time we go to work we know it could be like walking into something similar to a scene from a slasher film.
It’s hard to get used to that level of violence, but it’s part of our job. And it’s also one of the reasons cleaning up a crime scene should be left to professionals. It’s not surprising that it’s too emotionally shattering for anyone close to a crime victim, and mental health professionals advise against it.
There’s a lot of trauma involved in the job. PTSD is not uncommon among crime scene cleaners, especially after working a scene that involved children. That’s the worst, hands down.
The amount of blood, bodily fluids, and bits of bone and tissue that can be present at the scene of a violent crime is astonishing. Blood can splatter crazy far and soak deep into porous surfaces like wood flooring and upholstered furniture.
Generally, bodies are removed from the scene before we get there (although in cases of unattended death that may be largely impossible, as human remains tend to liquify over time), so we hardly ever see the victim, which is good.
We try not to dwell on the pictures and personal items that may be present or to think about how this was someone’s son or mother or father. Some cleaners have a hard time with this and even go so far as to turn over pictures at a crime scene so as not to see the faces of the victim and his or her loved ones. Desensitization is essential, but it can still get to you, the sadness and loss.
Crime Scene Cleanup Is More Challenging than Routine Cleaning
Not only is crime scene cleaning too traumatic for property owners, it’s also beyond the ability of most people to clean up biohazards effectively.
Also, no one looking for a crime scene cleaner should hire an office-cleaning team or a maid service thinking it’s the same difference. The level of disinfection and biohazard removal makes our job a far different beast. Regular house and office cleaners are not trained to clean up large blood spills or remove biohazards effectively.
Professional crime scene cleaners are trained in biohazard remediation and know how to effectively remove all traces of contaminants, preventing the spread of bloodborne pathogens like Hantavirus, HIV, and Hepatitis, just to name a few.
We also follow strict local, state, and federal regulations for handling and transporting biohazards. Blood-soaked furniture is not something you can just leave at the curb for the garbage crew to pick up.
Sometimes our work even involves demolition. If drywall has blood that can’t be removed or if fluids have soaked through carpet and into wood flooring it has to go.
So no, don’t call an office cleaning company for homicide cleanup.
AAA Crime Scene Cleanup
For LA crime scene cleaning, contact us: AAA Crime Scene Cleanup. We are ready to step in 24/7 and take over the job of returning your property to normal. Let us handle the tough job of cleanup while you start the process of healing.
