Last week, one of our recent students and the owner of a crime scene cleanup company contacted me for advice.  Based on the information I was given, their technicians cleaned a home following a suicide.  There were a number of family members involved with the cleanup process, which made the technician’s job even more difficult.  During the course of their initial walk through, the technicians found many high dollar items to be contaminated with blood, bodily fluids and brain matter.

The crime scene cleanup technicians asked the family what they wanted done with these items, which included: a flat screen TV, musical keyboard, baseball card collection and other misc. items.  The family members on scene agreed that they did not want to pay to have the items cleaned, so the technicians were to dispose of the items.

The technicians cleaned the scene, to the approval of the family, and departed.  A few days later, the mother of the man who had committed suicide, wanted to know where all of her son’s possessions were at.  The technicians explained that they were asked to remove the items, which were given to a hazardous waste disposal company to be destroyed.

Needless to say, the mother was not at the scene when all this was going on. However, she was the one responsible for paying the bill.  Since she felt that many items were taken out of the house, which should have been left behind, she didn’t want to pay the bill.  Furthermore, she wanted to be reimbursed for the items that were taken.

All the technicians had as proof that authorization was given to remove these items was their word.  As it turned out, after several weeks of telephone calls, the other family members confirmed that authorization was given and the mother paid the bill.

If you own a crime scene cleanup company or are thinking of starting one, do yourself a favor and document everything you do.  Take pictures and video of the scene before and after you complete the cleanup process.  Create forms to be signed by the “RESPONSIBLE PARTY”, giving you authorization to remove specific items from the scene.  Do not just accept someones word that authorization has been granted.  Go one step further and, if feasible, list every high dollar or sentimental item that will be removed from the scene and get a signature authorizing its removal.

The more documentation you have, the better off you will be if you find yourself in a similar situation.

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