UNC Park 'n' Ride- Safest spot in Carrboro/Chapel Hill...

It's hard to believe that only a short couple of years ago The UNC Park 'n' Ride on Estes Drive Estension was listed as one of the highest crime spots in the county. After a rash of break ins that relieved unsuspecting parkers of their radios, handbags and Chemistry textbooks, UNC decided that it was time to take a stand! After all, this is UNC.... if there is any stealing going on, it's going to be happening on the basketball court or the baseball diamond.

The turnaround was a lot faster than expected. There are few spots in the world that can claim they went from the highest crime rates to No Crime rates! We are truly blessed to be in one of those areas.

The Carrboro News decided that it was high time we took a trip out to the Park 'n' Ride to see how this minor modern miracle was accomplished and if there would be any way to apply their crimestopping techniques to the greater Chapel Hill/Carrboro region.

As soon as we pulled up to the gates we saw that we had come upon a crimestopping marvel. Our first thought was.... impenetrable, but that was only the first impression... after finding out exactly how the barriors were set up and what was to come in the future we reallized that it was.... REALLY, REALLY impenetrable and if we used this same technique with our residential houses, crime would come to a standstill. No longer would we have to read the Police Blotter to see which of our neighbors' houses and cars had been violated.

The technique, if applied to homes, would be a little confining and maybe not quite the small town image that we are striving so hard to achieve...but at least we would be safe!

Maybe you can see this little impenetrable fence surrounding your house but can you see the mine fields?

When you see the fence it becomes obvious why there have been no radios stolen from cars in the Park 'n' Ride. No one in their right mind would try to climb the fence and risk cutting their shirt, pants or Air Jordan Sneakers on the rolls of razor wire encircling the top of the fence. But what you don't see and don't know is there would stop you from evening thinking about scaling the fence, if by chance you were thinking about it. UNC is in the process of planting a mine field completely circling the Park 'n' Ride. Most people never even get to the fence as they don't make it past the mine field.

"We want to make sure that we have put an end to all crime in this area.", one UNC crimestopping employee told The Carrboro News. "Some people may think this is excessive, but all we can say is that we did what was necessary. Look at the crime rate in town....abominable! But our little Shangri La is crime free and getting even more so every day!"

Just as Jesus has told the world that "if you give a man a fish you feed him for a day, if you teach a man you don't have to worry about feeding him for life", UNC's Park 'n' Ride mantra is "Stop a man with a barb wire fence and you stop him for a day, stop a man with a mine field and you stop him for life!" This amazing crimestopper has not only lowered the number of crimes in the area, but has also lowered the number of criminals in the area. With each detonation, there is a pretty good chance that we have one less criminal!

And so The Carrboro News is kicking off it's new Zero Crime Program..... barbed wire fences and minefields around all houses. A gun is no protection against a criminal who could easily have a gun of his own, but how many criminals do you know who travel with a mine or a mine sweeper?