North Myrtle Beach police have released surveillance pictures of a man who robbed TD Bank on Sea Mountain Highway in North Myrtle Beach Saturday.
North Myrtle Beach police have released surveillance pictures of a man who robbed TD Bank on Sea Mountain Highway in North Myrtle Beach Saturday. A teller at the bank reported the robbery to police.
"The robber fled with a bag containing an undisclosed amount of money and a dye pack," said North Myrtle Beach public information officer Pat Dowling.
The suspect is described as a stocky male, about 5' 10" tall and approximately 200 lbs. He was wearing a white "old man" rubber mask, straw style hat, khaki colored long sleeve shirt with collar, khaki colored pants, dark colored gloves, dark colored shoes and presented a small black in color semi-automatic pistol.
The robber was seen leaving the area in a small silver vehicle, believed to be a 2002 to 2006 Nissan Sentra.
Last Wednesday, an Horry County State Bank branch in Socastee was robbed, as was a First Citizens bank branch nearby.
The rash of bank hold-ups on the Grand Strand has led some banks to review security procedures and make sure their employees are up-to-date.
"We've met with them individually. We've talked with our branch staff, we have branch managers handle that," said Barbara Marshall, marketing director for South Atlantic Bank which has two branches on the Grand Strand.
Marshall said security for customers and employees is always a concern, not just during this rash of robberies, but every day.
"We're being very watchful. We take it very seriously, want to keep everyone safe, of course. So we are watching very carefully."
The manager of the Crescent Bank branch in North Myrtle Beach said the recent outbreak of robberies has become a topic of conversation among her employees.
"It is certainly something when we come in in the morning and we've seen the news the night before that we do talk about it," said Crescent Assistant Vice President Diane Bast.
Security, including procedures to follow during a robbery, is discussed on a regular basis among Crescent employees, Bast said.
"At each branch meeting, we have a security topic that the branch manager will go over with their staff on a monthly basis, just trying to keep everyone prepared."
Bast and Marshall would not reveal details of their security procedures, but both say their employees make a point to verbally greet and make eye contact with each customer who walks through the door. It's a courtesy, Bast said, that serves a dual purpose as a security measure.
"It's been shown, if you make that contact to greet (customers), maybe in some way, that will be a deterrent."
Crescent employees may ask customers to remove hoods or other accessories that might obscure or alter their appearance, if the customer is unknown to bank employees.
"We would certainly ask someone that we weren't familiar with to do that, to remove a hat, to remove glasses," Bast said.
No Crescent banks have been hit during the robbery outbreak and Bast said her employees aren't necessarily worried about being the next to be held up, but it is something that's on their mind.
"I think it's just natural in all of us, human nature, to have that little bit of apprehension. But we talk about, still we feel confident that we're prepared and hopefully don't ever have to deal with it."
