When Retail Risk Strikes

Retail risk incidents follow predictable operating rhythms, spiking 363 percent at store openings and peaking between 6:00 and 8:00 p.m., according to a new report from remote monitoring and intervention company Interface Systems.

The 2026 Retail Loss Prevention Benchmark Report includes data from 1.6 million remote monitoring requests and 53,369 high-priority security events across more than 18,000 U.S. retail locations in 2025. Among those incidents, location theft or loss was the top security incident type by volume (68.7 percent), followed by disturbances (11.2 percent) and loitering or panhandling (8.2 percent).

Incidents tended to spike when stores open and started to taper off after a mid-evening peak at around 7:00 p.m., the report found. Of the 1.1 million total employee assistance requests Interface reviewed, nearly 100,000 occurred during opening and early shifts, around 10:00 a.m., and nearly 150,000 occurred during the evening around 7:00 p.m. especially as employees requested virtual security escorts or voice-down interventions.

On average, Sundays and Mondays had the most incidents, although Thursdays had the highest dispatch rate (38.8 percent of monitored incidents or alarms required a dispatched law enforcement response).

For specific incidents, disturbance incidents peaked in August, while dispatches peaked in September (76.5 percent of incidents required dispatch). Police dispatches in response to loitering were most common in July.

“Loitering and disturbances often precede higher-risk escalation,” the report said. “They require fast intervention, not passive observation.”

In response, Interface recommended adding seasonal escalation coverage for remote monitoring or other security services for July through September in anticipation of increased loitering and disturbance incidents.

Holiday periods also require higher incidents, but don’t restrict coverage to the holiday itself. The report found that pre-holiday days show the highest average incident volume, and the actual holiday is usually quieter (5.5 percent fewer incidents on holidays themselves, on average).

“Brief store managers on closing procedures 48 hours before holiday transitions,” the report advised. “The vulnerability is the last shift before the holiday, not the holiday.”

In addition, service requests varied widely based on retailer type. Discount retailers logged 51,060 high-priority events in 2025, and voice-down interventions were the top request (60.4 percent). Jewelry stores, by comparison, had 277 high-priority events, and security escorts accounted for 98.6 percent of requests.

Retailers should match the response model to store format, the report said. “Do not assume the same intervention mix works across all retail environments. Build service coverage around actual employee-support patterns.”