LAWRENCE — Three women carrying significant amounts of money in their purses were robbed, two at gunpoint, in separate incidents in the city, police said.

A 57-year-old woman called police about 12:10 a.m. yesterday after she was robbed at gunpoint as she got out of her car in front of her Royal Street home.

She told Officer Angel Lopez the man pointed a gun at her head and grabbed her purse, telling her in Spanish to let it go.

She told Lopez she let the purse go and the man ran off.

The purse contained $2,950 in cash from a business she owns on Broadway, her driver's license, checkbook and assorted personal papers, police said.

She described the robber as a light-skinned Hispanic male, 5 feet 7 inches tall, with short hair, weighing about 160 pounds, wearing a blue and white striped polo shirt and blue dungaree shorts.

About 10:26 p.m. on Monday, a 31-year-old woman flagged down Officer Charles Carroll III on Basswood Street and told him she had been robbed at gunpoint as she sat on her front steps talking to her friend on her cell phone.

She told Carroll the man walked up and asked for a cigarette, then a light, and then pulled a silver and black handgun, pointed it at her head and demanded her purse, which she gave him

The robber lowered the gun and turned around, then turned back, pointed the gun at her again and told her "as a matter of fact, give me the phone too."

She told police after she handed over the phone the man took off down Basswood Street toward Arlington Street.

She described him as having a light complexion, 5 feet 7 inches tall, short hair, no facial hair, wearing a white T-shirt and black shorts.

Officers searched the area but were unable to find the man.

The purse contained more than $200 in cash, credit cards, her driver's license, a bank card, and a checkbook, police said.

A 33-year-old woman called police at 9:33 p.m. Monday to report she was jumped from behind on Broadway as she walked home from her business on Broadway.

She told Detective Paul MacMillan she struggled briefly with the man before he was able to get the purse and run away.

She told MacMillan the purse contained $800 in cash from her business, a credit card and her resident alien card.

She described the man as a dark-skinned Hispanic male about 5 feet 6 inches to 5 feet 8 inches tall, wearing a black T-shirt and dark blue jeans.

"It is a spike in crime that we are addressing," Deputy Chief Michael Driscoll said yesterday.

He said police were mounting extra patrols in the areas where the robberies occurred.

Driscoll said the robberies were some distance apart and do not appear to be the work of one person.

"We are not ruling anything out, but investigators don't believe they are the work of the same person," Driscoll said. "We are working every possible angle."

Police Chief John Romero said robberies are down 32 percent from the same time last year.

"At this time last year we had 88 robberies. This year we have 60," Romero said.