THE SOURCE OF THE DATA FOR THE STUDY WAS THE 1968 SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION'S SURVEY OF CRIME AGAINST BUSINESS, WHICH INCLUDES INFORMATION ON PRIVATE PROTECTION MEASURES SUCH AS ALARM SYSTEMS, GUARDS, REINFORCING DEVICES, AND FIREARMS. THE SURVEY SAMPLE WAS 2,500 FIRMS. PUBLIC EXPENDITURES ON SECURITY AND THE SCOPE OF PUBLIC SECURITY FORCES WERE DETERMINED BY OBTAINING DATA ON STATE AND LOCAL SPENDING ON POLICE PROTECTION PER CAPITA IN THE STATE IN WHICH EACH FIRM IS LOCATED, AND BY DETERMINING THE NUMBER OF POLICE PER CAPITA IN THE STATE IN WHICH EACH FIRM IS LOCATED. RESULTS SHOW A POSITIVE, SIGNIFICANT EFFECT OF THE CRIME RATE (BURGLARIES, ROBBERIES, AND LARCENIES) ON THE USE OF PRIVATE PROTECTION DEVICES. THE DEGREE OF PUBLIC PROTECTION HAS A POSITIVE, SIGNIFICANT EFFECT ON THE USE OF LOCAL ALARMS, BUT APPEARS TO HAVE NO SIGNIFICANT EFFECT ON THE USE OF REINFORCING DEVICES, SUCH AS LOCKS, BARS, WINDOW GATES, ETC. A STRONG NEGATIVE EFFECT IS SHOWN REGARDING THE EFFECT OF PUBLIC EXPENDITURES ON THE PRIVATE OWNERSHIP OF FIREARMS, WHICH SUGGESTS THAT THE USE OF FIREARMS BY BUSINESSMEN IS A SUBSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC PROTECTION. THERE IS ALSO A NEGATIVE EFFECT OF PUBLIC PROTECTION ON THE EMPLOYMENT OF PRIVATE GUARDS. THE EFFECT OF FIRM SIZE ON THE USE OF GUARDS IS PARTICULARLY STRONG. VARIABLES ARE DEFINED, AND THE REGRESSION EQUATIONS USED ARE PRESENTED, ALONG WITH REFERENCES. (RCB)