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The new residents even created a trail through her neighbour’s backyard, effectively claiming it as their own. Wiebe said the move is completely territorial, since she lives near the corner of the street and no shortcut is necessary.

“A gang trail, that’s a statement, and they’ve been doing that now for over a year. His yard used to be immaculate; he’s scared. You see the grass? It used to always be cut,” she said.

That neighbour doesn’t come outside much anymore, and he definitely doesn’t use his backyard.

Numerous break-ins have been reported on the block as well. Wiebe said she’s seen items stolen from her property — or parts of them — scattered across the alleyway and in the backyard of the rental house.

She once came home to find numerous people having a free-for-all in her garage after a neighbour called asking if she had left her garage door open, she said. She had not left it open.

Wiebe said she was disappointed in herself because she and her neighbours began to see the problems as a ‘new normal’ and stopped reporting the crimes to police.

Saskatoon police Staff Sgt. Darren Pringle said even if things seem hopeless the best bet is to always report crimes so they are on record, giving police a better view of the issues in certain areas.

“Our life is ruled by dots,” Pringle said. “So please, report, report, report. I’m sure crime is underreported … but you have to report so we at least know something happened. Then if you start seeing a cluster (of reports), or sometimes someone will get caught for something and they’ll confess to a whole bunch of offences, if they haven’t been reported then we have to work backwards.”