WINNIPEG — He had barely put any dirt on the tires, before nine-year-old Michael Davis-Zickman realized his brand new bike had been stolen from his backyard.
“I was really sad,” he said. “I had just got that bike for my birthday.”
Stored behind a fence in his St. James yard, Michael said he was confident his bike would be safe to leave for a few hours in broad daylight.
When he returned, he sadly found out he was wrong.
“I couldn’t find my bike anywhere.”
Another theft on Michael’s property, and this time, his mother Crystal Davis said she’s had enough.
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“Stuff’s got to get better. But it seems to be getting worse, and we don’t know why,” Davis said.
Living in the neighborhood for five years, Davis said she’s never seen so much crime and vandalism in her community.
“Just in the last three weeks, my van’s been gone through four times. Plus my tires were slashed.”
Davis isn’t the only one going through this.
Sherri Glazier lives a few blocks down the road and said her van is consistently broken into overnight.
“This is really happening on a regular basis,” Glazier said.
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Both her and Davis said a community patrol team needs to be started, before things get worse.
“That would be great to get something going like that,” Glazier said.
“We need to be more vigil, we need to start looking out for each other,” Davis said.
In the meantime, Davis said she doesn’t even bother locking her car doors anymore, to avoid broken glass, and slashed tires.