Behind the Scenes of Crime Scene Cleanup

[Transcript: Jeremy Cumberford, Owner and President, Crime Scene Cleaners]

Jeremy Cumberford:

“But there’s a lot of blood there.”

“That’s going to keep everybody safe.”

“The bullet hole went right through the windshield.”

At Crime Scene Cleaners, we are the Midwest’s oldest crime and trauma remediation company, serving families and businesses after tragedies such as homicides, suicides, unattended deaths, hoarding, and other tragic events.

Helping Restore Homes After Loss

When we receive a call for a homicide, we are typically dealing with the family, not law enforcement. If it’s at their property, it’s their responsibility at the end of the day. However, there are departments that can refer us out or other referral agents.

We also work with a lot of homeowners insurance, which typically covers this type of remediation, whether it’s in a property or a vehicle.

When we arrive on-site, the differences can vary drastically depending on what type of substrates are affected—carpet, pad, subfloor, walls, bedding, mattresses—you name it. And in a vehicle, it can be even more tedious depending on what is affected.

And as you can see here, it was actually the passenger who was shot at, and the bullet hole went right through the windshield.

On dark surfaces, it can sometimes be hard to find blood. So we use your standard household 3% peroxide, and just like when you put it on a wound, it will bubble up because of the enzyme in the blood. That will let us know where bodily fluids, particularly blood, could be.

As you can see in here, there are a lot of towels and clothing that are also affected—whether they were trying to cover up their wounds after it happened, or there was some other situation that occurred in the vehicle. Unfortunately, most parties will never know.

Once our crew arrives today, they will be setting up containment—plastic on the floor—to protect our facility from cross-contamination of biological materials.

Expert Help and Protection

Right now, our crew is putting on their PPE—bloodborne pathogen-rated coveralls—to protect them in case they come into contact with any bodily fluids in the vehicle. They will then start the process of inventorying the contents inside and disposing of anything that’s necessary.

This is what we call our outer-layer glove. It’s a thicker glove that helps protect us from biologicals, but we always wear an underlayment in case we have to take one off so we are still protected.

We are now starting the removal process of personal items in the vehicle, such as clothing, trash, and other affected items.

As with any job site, whether it’s a vehicle or a home, we take photos for documentation.

After inventorying and removing the personal contents, we can now provide an accurate estimate to our client or the insurance company to determine the next steps.

Dealing with homicides can be very stressful, even for us and our staff. There is always some story we hear about the loved ones, and they never expect things to turn out this way.

Aiding Families Through Tragic Events

It can take a toll not only on us but also on the grieving families, who often don’t understand everything that we have to do.

Most people think of us as just cleaners, but we perform remediation services, which actually remove a lot of things.

There is a big issue with crime and trauma in our metropolitan area. I don’t know what the answer is to help, but hopefully, communities can come together.

We never want these things to happen, and it’s a tragedy for our entire community.

But we are here to help when it does.”

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Learn More

This video is part of a series supporting important conversations about crime reduction strategies and available resources for those impacted by violent crime. Stream ‘A Tale of Three Cities’, a new documentary from filmmaker Michael Price exploring successful crime reduction programs in Kansas City, Kansas, and Omaha, Nebraska, immersing viewers in critical conversations about curbing violent crime in Kansas City, MO, and inspiring meaningful action.

‘A Tale of Three Cities’ and complementary reporting on flatlandkc.local was made possible, in part, by funding from The William T. Kemper Foundation, Commerce Bank, Trustee.