Cleaning up after crime can be messy business

Monday, May 12, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

A rather messy crime has occurred in your home and investigators have gathered all the evidence they need.

Now what do you do to get your place back into shape?

Call the police department's crime scene cleanup squad? No such thing.

Call the health district or fire department's hazardous materials unit? They don't do that job.

The fact is, the job has to be done by a private firm -- and it's not free or cheap.

One company that does this kind of work is Nevada Crime Cleaners, a Northern Nevada-based firm that recently opened an office in Las Vegas. It is owned and operated by an undercover police officer.

Rick Keema, 31, got permission from his bosses (he asked that the police force for which he works not be identified) to start the business, which cleans up after murders, suicides and drug busts, among other crimes.

Victim traumatized

"The victim often is traumatized by the crime, and then again after finding out that the police, health district and coroner's office don't clean up the scene," Keema said.

"In the case of apartments, the manager cannot ask his maintenance employees to go in and do it because of the emotional aspect of dealing with what is often a gory scene. And there are a lot of hazards as well. That is where we come in."

There are maybe a half-dozen businesses in Southern Nevada that clean up crime scenes as part of their regular cleaning assignments. Nevada Crime Cleaners is one of the few -- if not the only one -- that does nothing but crime scenes.

The work can be a lot more involved than just using standard, everyday procedures like applying cold mineral water to remove blood stains.

"The solutions we purchase have to be bought at a specialty store -- they are not like the products you find on your grocery store shelves," said Keema, who, to do his cleaning work, dresses from head-to-toe in a protective suit, including a gas mask.

"The solutions we use are designed to kill HIV, tuberculosis, hepatitis, etc. In some cases, sections of carpet and walls have to be removed and we have to replace them."

To clean a single room, the cost could range from $100 to $700.

In cases of places damaged by chemicals commonly found in drug houses, the cleanup can be even more extensive and expensive.

Keema and his company are trying to establish a national protocol for cleaning up drug houses -- generally apartments rented from a landlord who has no idea what is going on there -- in a manner other than the standard procedure, which is to gut the place.

"Chemicals from a methamphetamine lab are the most difficult to clean," he said. "Even a small stain in a carpet can be hazardous.

"In some cases, gutting the entire place is necessary. But we feel some of them still can be cleaned depending on the level of contamination. We are working to find alternatives, but these are unchartered waters."

Veteran police detectives who have seen just how bad crime scenes can be say companies like Keema's provide a valuable service.

Real messy scenes

"I have a lot of respect for the guys who clean up these places -- some of the scenes can be real messy," said Ed Landino, a Metro Police general assignment detective with 26 years on the force.

"When we finish processing the scene -- which we do real carefully because of the bio-hazardous conditions -- we tell people that there are services they can call that will do the cleanups. People should not attempt to do it themselves because it's just too dangerous."

Landino does not endorse any one company, but rather the type of work they all do.

Landino recalls that many years ago the police department took an active role in the cleanup of crime scenes. But, he says, Southern Nevada has gotten too big for such operations and the department must channel its resources toward enforcement, crime prevention and investigations.

He notes that Las Vegas has one of the highest suicide rates in the nation, yet less than 15 percent of those victims choose the "quiet way" out.

"A lot of them are violent, more so with men than with women," Landino said.

Before cleaners are given the go-ahead to cross the plastic yellow police ribbon around a crime scene, investigators make sure they have gotten every last piece of evidence they need to satisfy prosecutors, judges and juries.

Because, once the cleaners come in, their work is so good, nary a fiber of potential evidence will remain.

Check for evidence

"We carefully look for evidence using the latest technology," Landino said. "People sometimes plant evidence to mislead us. When we are done, we are sure we have everything we need, even if we have to tear down a wall to find a projectile."

Keema said he has not yet been to a crime scene and found evidence police may have missed, but he says if he or his workers uncover anything during the cleaning process, they would immediately contact authorities.

And because his customers often are family members or friends of the victims, Keema says he and his workers are sensitive toward their despair as they help them rebuild at least a piece of their shattered lives by returning their homes to pre-crime conditions.