Prime Minister Perry Christie said yesterday that so much more has to be done to combat the country's "distressing" crime rate and said what the government is considering may impact freedom of movement.

Christie acknowledged that the government is responsible for ensuring the safety of its citizens.

"Every time someone is killed it diminishes us and I accept that and I'm very, very, very concerned about this matter to the point where it now will cause me to even dedicate more time and a greater degree of scrutiny to the effort," he told reporters at the Melia resort on Cable Beach yesterday. "Sometimes it is not easy given the demands to do the things that I would like to do. And that's a frank admission."

Christie said Minister of State for National Security Keith Bell presented him with significant crime strategies aimed at lowing the crime rate. However, he said he intends to meet with the police and defense force to discuss the feasibility of implementing that plan. The prime minister added that the government is relying heavily on the strategies that will be utilized and hopes that they are "understood and accepted".

"And by that I mean sometimes what you do will have to impact on our own freedom to move about," he said. "It is as strong as that.

"We are going to have to be much more aggressive in this matter. Again I want to be very careful with not putting myself in the position of the commissioner of the police or the commodore of the defence force in terms of how these things will be executed. So I want simply to say it will attract the strongest involvement on the part of the government of The Bahamas who will dedicate all of the resources that are necessary to come to grips with this."

The murder count rose to 130 on Wednesday night following the shooting deaths of Queen's College Primary School teacher Joyelle McIntosh on Parkgate Road, and Demyko Forbes on Whites Addition, off Kemp Road.

Christie said he grew up with McIntosh's parents.

"The families [were] very close," he said. "And so it has a particular impact on me personally really as a constant reminder that there is so much more that we obviously have to do to come to grips really with this emerging reality on our streets.

"It is, for me, clearly understood that people would be even more fearful given how these things are happening and I had the occasion to say before that it's not good enough for us to believe that it's localized with gangs and those of us who are just living an ordinary life would not be affected. The evidence now is clear that we can be."

Christie said he will personally spearhead the efforts to reduce crime. He said he will be unstinting in his commitment to provide necessary resources to the police force.

"As I said before even though they have done a lot, we have much more to do and we have to be much more aggressive in doing it," he said. "As I indicated before, I accept that we are responsible as a government to put in place the necessary changes, to put in place the wherewithal to properly employ the strategies that may be necessary going forward.

"...Clearly we need to move to a new dimension, a higher level of involvement, not just of the police force but of the community in this matter. There are a number of matters that I am discussing."

The Christie administration has been criticized for failing to live up to the promises it made while on the campaign trail to reduce crime.

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