Tonight, after eating turkey and playing board games, Sarah Maxwell plans to kiss her daughters and husband goodbye, drink a Red Bull and go shopping.
For the past two years, the Elkridge stay-at-home mother has teamed up with a girlfriend to hit the sales that many stores offer before the sun has risen on Black Friday. But this year, she's taking extra precautions to be sure she will be safe when she goes to Arundel Mills for its midnight opening.
"We're definitely going with a group - eight people. We're going to try to park close by, look around the parking lot, go to the bathrooms with other people," said Maxwell, 25. "I like the crowds and the excitement, but you really have to keep your eyes open with the way things are right now."
Along with carols and candy canes, the holidays bring another tradition to shopping centers - increased crime. While retailers hope for strong holiday sales to combat sluggish earnings, police and retailers are bracing for an uptick of pickpockets, purse snatchers and shopping bag grabbers.
Holiday shoppers make easy targets for criminals, said Baltimore County police spokesman Bill Toohey. "When people are out during the holiday season, they are often very distracted. You're juggling your bags and, bam, someone comes up and grabs your stuff and you don't even know which way he ran."
While the holidays are usually considered the time when crimes are most likely to occur at shopping centers, some recent incidents have put shoppers on edge before the season begins. Thefts have risen sharply over last year at Arundel Mills and The Mall in Columbia. And at Arundel Mills, there has been a spate of armed robberies in the parking lot in recent weeks - in one, a man held up a woman in front of her 8-year-old daughter.
Officials at Arundel Mills and The Mall in Columbia declined to give details on their security.
"We cannot discuss the specifics of public safety plans because doing so would compromise the safety of our shoppers," said Jessica Bloom, a spokeswoman for The Mall in Columbia.
Thefts have increased more than 25 percent over last year at The Mall in Columbia and thefts from autos have more than doubled, Howard County police said.
For the holiday season, police say they are pulling officers from traffic details and community outreach to increase patrols at shopping centers. For instance, police in Bel Air are seeking help from their auxiliary members to patrol the parking lot at Harford Mall.
