Holiday security should be reviewed before traffic and staffing patterns change
The holiday period can bring higher customer traffic, seasonal employees, extended hours, inventory changes, deliveries and days when offices or job sites are lightly staffed. That makes October and early November a better time to test security than the night before a holiday closure.
The Maricopa County Attorney's Office has run a Safe Shopping campaign focused on organized retail crime during the holiday season. Its 2025 update reported 303 organized retail crime convictions in 2024 and 272 convictions through October 31, 2025. Current 2026 cases continue to involve cosmetics, power tools, sporting goods and other merchandise across the Valley.
15 things to review before Thanksgiving and Christmas
- Confirm every critical camera is online. Do not assume a green light on the recorder means every view is usable.
- Check camera time and date. Accurate timestamps matter when footage must be reviewed or exported.
- Verify recording retention. Make sure storage covers the period your business actually needs.
- Test remote viewing. Owners and managers should confirm authorized access before a closure.
- Review high-value merchandise coverage. Check for seasonal displays that create new blind spots.
- Review stock-room access. Remove credentials that are no longer needed and confirm employee schedules.
- Check back doors and receiving entrances. Verify door contacts, closers and locking hardware.
- Update the alarm call list. Make sure monitoring contacts are current and available.
- Test cellular alarm communication. Confirm the alarm path is healthy where a cellular communicator is used.
- Inspect exterior lighting. A camera cannot create detail that poor lighting never provides.
- Review loading docks and gates. Holiday delivery schedules may change normal traffic patterns.
- Protect network equipment. Cameras and access control depend on switches, gateways, UPS systems and connectivity.
- Check construction or outdoor equipment. Tools, copper, trailers and materials should not be left outside the security plan.
- Document who has after-hours access. Avoid shared keys or codes where individual credentials are practical.
- Test before the closure. Give yourself time to repair a failed camera, battery, door contact or network link.
Holiday traffic can hide activity that would stand out on a normal day
More people, more deliveries and extended business hours create legitimate activity that can make unusual behavior harder to identify. That is where camera placement, event search, access-control logs and documented procedures become more valuable.
A pre-holiday assessment should be practical
The goal is not to replace every device before December. It is to identify the highest-consequence gaps: cameras that are offline, blind exits, weak stock-room control, bad door contacts, outdated alarm contacts, insufficient retention or a network problem that could take multiple security devices offline at once.
Questions businesses ask
When should a business perform a holiday security review?
Ideally several weeks before Thanksgiving or the first major seasonal traffic increase, so there is time to correct failed cameras, doors, alarm contacts or network issues.
What is the most important holiday security check?
Start with the areas where one loss would hurt the most: high-value inventory, back doors, stock rooms, loading areas and after-hours entrances.
Should seasonal employees receive permanent access?
Access should follow business policy and job need. Temporary or scheduled credentials can be easier to control and remove than shared keys.
Should businesses test cameras before closing for a holiday?
Yes. Verify live video, recording, timestamps, retention and authorized remote access before the property is lightly staffed or closed.
Sources
We use current government, law-enforcement and industry sources for the factual claims in this article.
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