![]() Grief-stricken, angry family members are common too. Sometimes the property owner/landlord is on the property and the family is not, though typically it's frazzled, confused, sad, and depressed family members. We strongly believe in taking care of our mental health first and foremost, as that is a priority in order for us to do such a difficult job time and again.Īndrews: Lots and lots of tears. This is available to our customers as well as our technicians. In addition to cleanup, we also have a partnership with a mental health organization which allows us to offer our customers four free therapy sessions and unlimited texting for a month. We lead with empathy and want to be as resourceful as possible to the families. Spaulding: Our company was founded on empathy, and that is the very core of our existence. How do you work with the families? Is there a “grief counseling” element of your job? Other times the scene is closed and families are left with the remnants… in which case they search online for a solution and they find us. Sometimes law enforcement calls us on behalf of the families, or they refer families to call us. It's a process that takes roughly 24–72 hours, although in some states it can take up to a week. Gabby Martin, head of content marketing and media for NCSC: So typically, a crime scene occurs a bystander or family reports it to the police the detectives or investigators respond, document, and collect evidence then they move to close the crime scene. There have been times when we have arrived and the body was in the process of being removed, but for the most part we only deal with the cleanup and biohazard material that is left from the deceased. ![]() Spaulding: Situations vary however, more often than not, we are called on to the scene after the coroner’s office has retrieved the body and police have already performed their investigations. helping others is a daily motivation for me to continue going, despite the mess and the trauma.Īt what point do you come in to the process? Do you interact with the police at all, or are you first contacted by the families? I put in an application and believe I was hired based on my experience in construction. Mike Andrews, senior crime scene technician with NCSC: My buddy is a manager for the NY branch to the National Crime Scene Cleanup Association and told me they were hiring and encouraged me to apply. I wanted to give victims’ families the opportunity to grieve peacefully without the burden of cleanup. No one should ever have to clean up their loved one’s remains. At that moment, I decided this was something I could do and something that would bring me joy. I went home to do research and quickly realized there was a need for this service and very few companies provided it. All I knew was that law enforcement did not, contrary to popular belief. Laura Spaulding, Spaulding Decon: While working the scene of a double homicide, a family member of the deceased approached me and asked, “Who is going to clean this up?” I had been working in law enforcement for 8 years and no one had ever asked me this question before. (And if you don't want the somewhat gory details, stop reading now and we'll see you next week!) Honestly, I’ll never forget the fascinating, horrifying, and surprisingly heartwarming things I learned in my interviews with these crime scene cleaners. I reached out to both companies and spoke with Spaulding and two staffers at NCSC: Gabby Martin, head of content marketing and media, and senior crime scene technician Mike Andrews.Īndrews was involved in the cleanup on the Rust set after Alec Baldwin fatally shot cinematographer Halyna Hutchins - and wrote in an NCSC blog that the paparazzi even confused him for Baldwin: “All I know is that being yelled at with questions about the shooting and having photos taken of me while I was working to remove the biohazards from the set is a day I’ll never forget,” he said. Many hire professional crime scene cleaners to do the job for them, like Spaulding Decon, the company founded by former cop Laura Spaulding, or National Crime Scene Cleanup (NCSC). True crime followers know exactly what happens when someone is murdered: Typically, police unspool crime scene tape, homicide detectives and crime scene technicians survey the scene and collect evidence, and the coroner’s office transports the body for an autopsy.īut then, everything that remains from the victim is the responsibility of the family or property owner to clean up - a horrific thought, especially for people who have already endured so much trauma and tragedy.
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