# Cleaning up Crime scenes **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 12, 2003, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleaning-up-crime-scenes/160725 "2003-03-12T03:14:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mr.splitfoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@mr.splitfoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.splitfoot)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleaning-up-crime-scenes/160725/1 "2003-03-12T03:14:23Z")
How would one go about getting a job cleaning up crime scenes? Do you have to take classes, or can any Joe pick up a sponge and go brain scraping? ---
**Author:** ![Amp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Amp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amp)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleaning-up-crime-scenes/160725/2 "2003-03-12T03:20:31Z")
Man, I knew the job market was tight dude, but doesn’t McD’s have any openings? ---
**Author:** ![Klaatu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Klaatu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Klaatu)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleaning-up-crime-scenes/160725/3 "2003-03-12T04:36:31Z")
[Here](http://www.metroactive.com/papers/sonoma/01.21.99/gore-9903.html) is an interesting article that should answer your questions. ---
**Author:** ![DarkWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee59a6/32.png) [@DarkWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarkWriter)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleaning-up-crime-scenes/160725/4 "2003-03-12T06:41:29Z")
And [here’s](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0451205553/qid=1047451291/sr=1-11/ref=sr_1_11/002-3232249-1081618?v=glance&s=books) an interesting novel about crime scene cleaners. ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleaning-up-crime-scenes/160725/5 "2003-03-12T07:39:41Z")
Sorry, folks. I didn’t see that this was a [duplicate thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=168957). Apologies. ---
**Author:** ![wooba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/aeb1de/32.png) [@wooba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wooba)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleaning-up-crime-scenes/160725/6 "2003-03-12T18:05:43Z")
Michael Moore had a show called TV nation where he tagged along for a day with a company that did this… worth a watch if you can find it! ---
**Author:** ![Keith\_Cronin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/aca169/32.png) [@Keith\_Cronin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keith_Cronin)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleaning-up-crime-scenes/160725/7 "2003-03-12T18:34:25Z")
An enterprising buddy of mine runs such a business. He’s also a fireman, but works a 48-hour shift and then is done for the week. So he started a crime scene cleanup company, capitalizing on the ties he developed with police departments over the years, and has done quite well with it. When he has a particularly taxing assignment, he’s able to easily round up the additional manpower he needs from the crew of firemen he works with. In addition to training, you need to be able to handle the sights and - even worse, from what he’s told me - the _smells_. To people experienced in working fire/rescue, I guess it’s not such a biggie. But I’d think it would be tough for the average civilian to handle. I know _I_ couldn’t do it! ---
**Author:** ![Tusculan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Tusculan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tusculan)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleaning-up-crime-scenes/160725/8 "2003-03-12T20:28:03Z")
As an aside, a couple of years ago I rented a straight-to-video movie called _Curdled_, which is about a girl working for such a company. I’m not sure how realistic it is. The girl, by the way, is the driver of the cab in which Bruce Willis’s character in _Pulp Fiction_ left after the boxing match. The movie is one of those ‘Tarantino presents’ thingies. Not very good, but hey, what do you expect with straight-to-video. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2003, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleaning-up-crime-scenes/160725/9 "2003-03-14T17:04:21Z")
bump ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2003, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleaning-up-crime-scenes/160725/10 "2003-03-14T17:08:06Z")
Good grief, another one? The hamsters must have been on something. I’ll close this one too and direct further comment to [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=168957](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=168957) bibliophage moderator GQ