Int. No. 770
By Council Members Nelson, James and Liu
Title
A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, to provide for the cleaning and restoration of crime scenes, on both public and private property.
Body
Be it enacted by the Council as follows:
Section 1. Declaration of Legislative Findings and Intent. The task of cleaning the city’s gruesome and contaminated crime scenes often falls on citizens who are traumatized by the events that produced such scenes. Not only are these citizens emotionally and often times physically unprepared to deal with this job, they also lack the appropriate knowledge and/or supplies to safely discard hazardous materials found on site or the ability to effectively decontaminate the premises. It is apparent that serious health and safety issues arise when citizens, and not city agencies and/or private crime scene cleanup companies, perform this undertaking. Professionals who specialize in hazardous waste cleanup should bear this responsibility, so as to ensure the safe restoration of crime scenes, and to relieve property owners of the psychological and physical burden associated with the obligation.
§2. Chapter 1 of title 14 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended to add a new section 14-152, to read as follows:
§ 14-152. Crime Scene Clean-Up
a. Definitions. For the purposes of this section, the term “crime scene” means
a) the site at which an illegal act took place, and
b) a site which contains any of the following types of evidence:
impressions such as fingerprints, tool marks, footwear, fabric impressions, tire marks and bite marks;
(ii) forensic biology including either blood, semen, body fluids, hair, nail scrapings or blood stain patterns;
(iii) trace evidence including gun shot residues, arson accelerant, paint, glass and fibers; or
(iv) firearms, including weapons, gun powder patterns, casings, projectiles, fragments, pellets, wadding or cartridges.
b. Public Property. If a crime scene occurs on or within any portion of publicly owned property, the city shall clean the affected area. Such cleaning shall involve any or all of the following procedures:
(i) the immediate containment of the affected area(s), involving either biohazard tape when indoors, or the usage of tarps when outdoors;
(ii) the application of hospital-grade germicides to the affected area(s) throughout the cleanup;
(iii) the initial removal of all materials that cannot be cleaned, including, but not limited to, clothing, shoes, eyeglasses, mattresses, carpeting, and flooring;
(iv) the detailed cleaning of the affected area(s), by means of a variety of tools and appliances, to be used only once before being discarded;
(v) the application of anti-microbial agents, sprayed on the affected area(s); and
(vi) a final wipe-down of the premises.
c. Private Property. If a crime scene occurs on or within any portion of privately owned property, the police department shall:
(i) provide the owner of such property a list of all known companies specializing in the cleanup of bio-hazardous materials so as to enable the owner to employ such services; or
(ii) Clean the property, as described in subdivision b, in the event that
the owner can not afford to pay for such services, or chooses not to seek out such services.
§3. This local law shall take effect immediately.