None of the Internet's articles on crime scene cleanup approach the journalistic standards that previous generations of Americans came to expect. Put another way, articles on How Crime Scene Clean-up Works reflect a lack of research and critical thinking. It seems that their information sounds like the infomation-propaganda we've come to expect from the billionaire owned Fox "news industry."
Imagine H. L. Mencken's critical thinking and then think of today's wimpy net writers.
I see what these writers have done, besides going-along-to-get along. They have generally performed their craft well enough, but why should anyone lift an eyebrow? Well, they do a fair amount of damage to earnest individuals, that's why. Consumers and hopeful job seekers fall victim to the Internet's crime scene cleanup propaganda.
A close reading of these articles reflects a bias for their subject, rather than an objective " who, what, when, where, how " analysis approach to journalism. Where's the information that people in search of real information need? Perhaps a couple or more of these writers simply promote corporatism.
Ideas like "safe," "shallow," "simple," "meaningless," " misleading," "white bread" and "Where's the meat?" strike the critical reader interested in the real story .
Writers of these "gore" stories often pivot their themes on two extremes, money and gore. Readers of these stories might wonder how so many people missed out on the great opportunities to earn their fortune. What a wonderland of strife-free profits exist in the world of crime scene cleanup!
Horror and Hazards
The small cleaning companies know pretty well that they will not suffer injury on cleanups. They expect a handsome profit for the "ugh" factor, the horror and stink of it all. The large cleaning companies pretty well know that their labor will not suffer injury during cleanups. They expect a handsome profit because they do what they do, not because their labor suffers the horror and stink of it all. In part, whether small or large, what makes these companies "work" arises from legislation and insurance. They do not create wealth as we have come to understand the creation of wealth .
The facts reflect that many people come to believe what they read. They believe that $100 per hour follows shortly after getting "into the business" and "going to crime scene cleanup school." As an "industry" capable of absorbing the hoards looking for work, the need for crime scene cleaners remains small and will continue so indefinitely. Too many companies compete for too few jobs. Their numbers grow rapidly. For those with the means this school serves as the mode Crime Scene Cleanup School; for others, go into nursing.
Many dreamers wasted thousands of dollars to attend a "crime scene cleanup school" because of what they read on the Internet. (The Internet's crime scene cleanup propaganda machine continues to send more victims to these schools then we will ever know. They go on a promise, a dream, and hopes of being one of the few "able to withstand" the horror and stink of it all. More will read from the crime scene cleanup propaganda machine and waste their time and money.
They believe that they will risk their lives in a world of bloodborne pathogens. They believe that they can withstand horrific sights and terrible odors to escape the dulling minimum wage world of work. They believe these ideas until mugged by reality.
The reality of biohazards in crime scene cleanup simply do not exist in bloodborne pathogens as we read. Of course, Murphy's Law rules at all times, but the truth resides elsewhere. The probability of suffering bloodborne pathogen injuries on a crime scene cleanup pales when compared to the probability of suffering traffic related injuries to crime scene cleanup. Simply wearing protective equipment diminishes the risk very effectively.
If the biohazards of cleaning crime scenes justify tens of thousand of dollars for simple decomposition cleanups, how do we explain employees' relative low wages in such a dangerous occupation?
How do we explain statistical tracking of bloodborn contracted diseases among medical personnel and not crime scene cleaners? Simple, there are no known reports available for crime scene cleaners contracting bloodborne pathogen diseases from crime scene cleanup. When the first such casualty appears, I'll be the first to publish the news if I can.
Moving on, here's an utterly worthless statement deserving our critical attention:
"The requirement of a cleaning agent at the crime scene has resulted in a profitable industry of crime cleanup jobs."
We read, "a profitable industry of crime cleanup jobs" without as much as a blink. A profitable industry of crime scene cleanup jobs for whom? Who did this writer get to offer up their employment experience as a crime scene cleaner? Did "Crime scene cleaners" ever hope to earn $100 to $600" in a crime scene cleanup crony-filled nation? Can you see people lining up for crime scene cleanup school hoping to land one of these $100 per hour jobs?
Crime Scene Cleanup Commodified
This is how crime scene cleanup really works . We see that labor must clean after horrorific deaths. This labor becomes a commodity (something to be bought and sold) in crime scene cleanup. So the crime scene cleaner's labor and the effects of death create work. Again, an opportunity to buy and sell crime scene cleanup labor now exists like any other commodity. In Adam Smith's language, classical economic language, the employed crime scene cleaner (the proletariate) sells her or his labor to the crime scene cleanup company (the bourgeoisie).
The crime scene cleanup company crystallizes the cleaner's labor in the form of surplus value, profit. It's the same commodification of self by selling one's labor or buying the other's labor that defines capitalism. It's all the same no matter if a violent crime, violent suicide, or unattended death cleanup: buy cheap and sell dear. Buy labor cheap and sell it dear to someone else, like an insurance company, that is.
The net effect of this relationship equals profits derived from the labor of crime scene cleaners less materials. What could be simpler?
Rates drop dramatically.
Large companies disappear.
Crony companies disappear.
Small companies flourish.
Insurance companies create an artificial finance environment for large companies. Without this artificial environment, rates drop because the lofty insurance payments stop. Small companies also profit from the insurance companies, but their continued existence does not necessarily depend on insurance company money.
Large companies must either disappear or absorb crime scene cleanup into other existing business activities. They must absorb their crime scene cleanup activities as a less demanding area of their enterprise.
Crony companies cannot exist in an open and free business market as they do with their welfare-like government referrals. They either conform to market demands or cease to exist.
Small companies flourish in an open and free market freed of a market artificially propped up by insurance claims and cronyism. The mom-and-pop carpet cleaning companies and their like would find an open field of consumers in need of professional cleaners freed of corporate operating costs.
Time
Answering the question, "How crime scene cleanup works," leads to a big difference between large and small crime scene cleanup companies. Large companies should need less time to clean and a solo cleaner company more time.
For consumers in need of a cleanup in a few hours. a larger company makes sense. For those consumers with a full day or two, a small company makes the most sense. Commercial and industrial consumers would benefit from the former, and residential consumers would benefit from the latter, to generalize.
Time and Crony Companies
Crony crime scene cleanup companies live in a differrent business environment than their non-crony "competitors."
Cony companies travel fewer miles for work.
Cony companies receive most or all insured work for after death cleanups.
Crony companies know work follows shortly - - Job security.
Crony companies have little if any competition.
Some crony companies have local government protection. (Follow the money.)
As a result of the above, crony companies exist within a narrow and protected business environment and may often choose their price. Their time creates more income.
Many non-crony companies travel more miles, receive fewer insured jobs, do not know if an when they will work again, have much competition, and as a consequence must charge less. There time creates less income.
Finding a Cleaning Company
The bereaved contacts a company found in most cases on the Internet or by a crony county employee's referral to one or more crony companies (and the growth of cronyism continues rapidly). In some cases the crime scene cleanup company insists on a signed contract that includes a lien against the bereaved's property. At this point the homeowner jeopardizes the ownership of their property for the sake of an insurance claim.
Some homeowner's carry policies that limit their insurance company's liability for coverage. Some policies require structural damage before invoking the required clause, which rewards cleaning companies for needless demolition.
These home owning survivor's stand to loose a lot of money if their insurance fails. For those with personal property damage as well as structural damage protection, they represent a pot of gold to their cleaning company.
Some companies take advantage of insurance company claims. A simple decomposition cleanup may run to about $20,000 and will include a dumpster for all of the belongings tossed from the home. In this writer's opinion there is no way that a cleanup for one death can possibly incur such fees, but it happens. Variations on the theme exist. Some charge ten and even fiften thousand dollars for work.
Why a Solo Crime Scene Cleanup Company Costs Less
Solo cleaners cost less because they have fewer expenses.
If a small and honest crime scene cleanup company does the work, the homeowner's invoice reflects something like this (with wide variations):
Labor Rate: $250 to $350 per hour.
Biohazard Disposal Rate: $200 per box (see argument)
Biowaste Disposal Rate: $350 per trailer load. (Disposal with solid waste)
Solid Waste Disposal Rate: $350 per trailer load. (Disposal with biowaste)
Sealing Rate: $10 to $300 depending upon area sealed. This item must figure in with labor costs.
Ozone Rate: $250 to $350 per 18 to 24 hours.
Fogging Rate: $50 to $200 depending on areas fogged.
Floor Cleaning and Restoration:
Ceramic Floor: $00.00 (cleaning) to $500 (one room takeout)
Wood Floor: $250 (sanding and sealing) to $250 (area removal) to $1,500 (for one room takeout)
Vinyl Takeout: Too variable
A solo cleaning company should complete a crime scene cleanup following a shotgun blast to a human skull for less than $4,800, a liberal figure. What I leave out of this figure are problems that arise from blood migration below floors, between rooms, and other conditions not fully apparent at first sight. Time wise, a cleanup of this magnitude calls for a two day cleanup by a solo cleaner. I would not be comfortable with a one day suicide cleanup of a shotgun blast to the head.
Example: A carpet soaked in blood and water may cover a small hole in a wall. Through this hole water and blood slowly flow. The area behind the wall now becomes part of the death scene and part of the cleaning and recovery expense.
Victimizing the Victim
None of the above counts in crime scene cleanup cronyism and nepotism. The bereaved becomes another victim of the crime, but victimized by a different puke. Some pukes make a lot of money by no special skills or knowledge of their own, just knowing the right people. If crony's sound like the 18th century ruling class, they should. They profit by virtue of relationships. Their class privilege has nothing to do with skills, knowledge, and abilities.
Counties cannot identify cronies easily. There are no blood tests for cronyism. Their are no accounting mechanisms for cronyism. Cronyism operates by simple sentence interaction. Here's an example of what a county employee might say to the survivor of a homicide, suicide, or unattended death:
We recommend XYZ at 123-456-7890.
Sentences like the above cost survivors of crime scenes thousands of dollars they could have saved. These costs also include strong-arm sales tactics intended to deceive and manipulate the berieved during some of the most painful, vulnerable moments of their lives. Is it any wonder that I use the term "puke" for these crudes?
Cronyism's simplicity operates with near perfection. To overcome it, county administrator's need to disclose the whereabouts of all biohazard cleaning companies within an agreed upon area. This simple solution might occur by one or more of the following:
Post a state list on the county's website as well as on county coroner and medical examiner office bulletin boards.
Post all companies in several places open to the public.
Post all companies on forms distributed from a public place, like a security station in a courthouse.
County officials have a duty to protect the public. They have a duty to ensure the public does not, cannot become victims of county employees priviledged with special information, like recent deaths. This line of reasoning strikes me as so obvious I wonder why it has not already taken place nationwide.
Surely intelligent adults working in coroner and medical examiner services should anticipate abuse of their privileged information. The incentives to sell information easily entice the less-than-ethical employees. A simple grudge held by one employee becomes rationale enough to abuse the system for personal gain. Imagine increasing one's income by half or doubling it uttering a simple sentence on the telephone or face-to-face several times a week.
We have bureaucracies to protect citizens in a democracy, to organize and streamline decision making by rules and guidelines; to ensure that we do not become victims at the hands of our civil servents. The intent for creating bureaucracies is to anticipate the public's civil and protection needs on a collective level. The American public needs protection from cronyism in crime scene cleanup.
In this writing I took time out to explain cleaning company abuses of crime scene victims. I noted price gouging. If a county could save one crime scene victim from crony abuses then would it not make sense to institute policies to protect the public? A simple county administrator's resolution would protect the many from one or more cronies indefinitely. Why would any county administrator hesitate?
(Comments like the above do not make it to the Internet's crime scene cleanup propaganda articles, we know.)
Special Permits
One last example here: "They require a special permit or a practicing license that authorizes them to remove, pack and dispose off bio-hazardous waste." Now, I say, I missed out on this one. So where might I find such a required "special permit"?
Finally, some article writers should have permits to post on the Internet. The so-called crime scene cleanup article writers do more damage to more consumers, cleaners, and job seekers than a host of Orks could do to Bamby.
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