LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The Louisville Metro Police Department said it has made arrests in all but two of the city's last eight homicides.

WDRB spoke to a couple of people in the community on Thursday, who now have a renewed sense of urgency to encourage others to work with police to solve violent crime.

Homicide detectives in Louisville said a slow down in deadly shootings is allowing them to solve more cases.

"There's hope that they continue because they got a long way to go," said Louisville resident Connie McFarland.

McFarland has lived in Louisville for decades. She said she knows of families waiting on arrests on cases that happened three, four years ago.

"The children are getting tired. I think the kids are tired of seeing their friends laying down on this concrete," McFarland said.

LMPD has investigated 138 criminal homicides this year. But in recent months, there has been a drop in deadly shootings.

Chief Paul Humphrey said the problem isn't solved, but considers a drop in the overall amount progress.

"If they see something that should not have happened in that particular area or that space, they should step up and say something about it," said Louisville resident Marco Deng.

In November, Louisville saw seven homicides; and this month so far, there have been two.

"When you look at the homicide rate and how many cases they're picking up per month, when you go down from seven to two cases, that is time, that would be out there picking up new cases that now they can dedicate to working the cases that they already have," LMPD Chief Paul Humphrey said.

As a result, LMPD said investigators have made arrests in six out of the last eight homicide cases.

"They have shown that to the last couple months, that the reason that I believe this is possible is because they've had time to work their cases. They're not picking up a case that you know so frequently that they don't have time," LMPD Lt. Les Skaggs said.

LMPD has made arrests in 57 homicides so far this year.

"So 81 are still open. That's 81 families this holiday season which will not have a loved one there. We would very much like to solve all any one of those cases, but realistically, we are doing the best we can," Skaggs said.

LMPD has 22 homicide detectives working around the clock to solve as many cases as they can.

"Let's make January, another year. Let that be like November and December, and then let's keep moving on," McFarland said.

Humphrey said since the start of the Non-Fatal Shooting Squad, LMPD's clearance rate for non-fatal shootings have gone up over 600%.

LMPD said there has been a significant decrease in the amount of car thefts here in Louisville. Humphrey said he is happy to see the number of stolen cars go down 20% since the start of this year.

Humphrey said last year and a significant portion of this year, Kias and Hyundai's being stolen got out of control. With more steering wheel locks being used, less people are getting their car stolen.

Humphrey acknowledges the problem is not 100% solved, but he considers a drop in the overall amount progress.

Louisville resident Marco Deng said he hopes people continue making an effort to lock their cars and remain mindful of what they leave in them, especially ahead of Christmas.

"Because of the holiday season, there is a demand. People want to make their wishes come true, and probably somebody will do anything they can to meet that expectation. So it's just, it is in the public interest to just to play it safe," Deng said.

LMPD also talked Thursday about ways to not be a victim when buying gifts this holiday season.

Police said if you buy something off sites like Facebook Marketplace, LMPD has 24-hour surveillance drop zones around the city.

For a list of those MetroSWAP zones, click here.

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