PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The work continues to find a solution to Philadelphia's ongoing carjacking crisis. It's part of a growing pattern of crime in Northeast Philadelphia.

Residents gathered for a town hall to demand more action to help make their neighborhoods safer.

On Thursday night, it was standing room only. In fact, some residents who came out couldn't get inside to take their concerns to Philadelphia police leadership. 

"Our community is getting robbed, catalytic converters, cars," one man said.

Residents packed the 8th District police building Thursday night for the captain's monthly town hall worried about what they say is an uptick in crime, including carjackings, assaults and robberies.

"The kid shot at my neighbor from my house," a man said.

"Even my son taking the bus to school," Jen Malazita said, "you never know where there is going to be a shooting."

Philadelphia police are investigating at least six carjackings in the northeast since the new year. City-wide, there have already been more than four dozen as of Jan. 16.

"You think it's all right to take cops away from the community when we're suffering?" a man said.

The 8th District is the largest geographically. Many fear that police staffing shortages mean longer wait times when safety is on the line.

"So if you guys can't come or for whatever reason you're told not to come or stand down," a woman said, "tell us so we can defend ourselves in time to be survivors."

Capt. Nicholas DeBlasis, who's been leading this district since May 2021, thanked the crowd for showing up to speak up but also acknowledged his team can't be everywhere.

"Calls are taken on a priority basis," DeBlasis said. "If we have a shooting, if we have an accident on the Boulevard with fatalities, things are going to be pending, unfortunately. It's not a perfect system."

The 8th District's captain's town hall is held on the last Thursday of every month. The next will be on Feb. 23.