GILFORD -- Police here have increased patrols near the town's five banks following recent bank robberies in nearby communities.
Detective Doug Wall said that the department's detectives are also meeting with bank officials to discuss security issues and other procedures.
"We're taking a proactive approach to the situation," said Wall, who has been in touch with police departments in Alton, Plymouth and Moultonborough, where banks were robbed within the last two weeks.
He said that there are similarities in the methods used in all three robberies and that descriptions of the clothing worn by the bank robbers are also similar.
On Dec. 23 in Alton, Profile Bank was robbed at 5:15 p.m. by a masked man with a stout build who was wearing military-style pants. He told tellers that he was armed and ordered them to fill a backpack with cash. He then fled in an unknown direction from the bank, which is on Route 11 near intersections with Route 140 and Route 28.
On Dec. 21, a man wearing a ski mask and dressed in a blue hooded sweatshirt and wearing khaki cargo pants robbed a branch bank of Meredith Village Savings Bank in Plymouth. He was described by tellers as a white male in his 20s or 30s and between 5-foot-6 and 5-foot-8.
On Dec. 14 two men robbed a Meredith Village Savings Bank branch in Moultonborough. The robbers were described as in their 20s, and 5-foot-3 and 5-foot-8. They wore gray surgical masks, dark hooded sweaters and khaki pants.
Police said the Moultonborough robbery may have been pulled off by the same people responsible for earlier bank robberies in Concord and Bow.
"The physical descriptions and the method of operation are very similar to the other robberies," said Moultonborough Police Chief Scott Kinmond.
