Retailing today has a profit crisis: shrinkage is now 3 percent of sales; net profit is only 1 percent. This thin line between expenses and profit can force companies out of the market. Consequently, any add-on costs must be kept down because they reduce profits. Theft can be especially crippling to business; it does not merely reduce the profit margin; it eliminates profit completely, creating a total loss. Shoplifting, the fastest growing crime, can reduce profit hopes greatly. Security personnel perform special functions for business: they arrest shoplifters (a serious undertaking since such action commits the company legally); they check parcels, provide nighttime controls, and investigate unusual situations. Security has real profit potential; instead of creating an additional expense, it can reduce shrinkage to 1 percent and double net profit. Because of their contribution to business profit, security personnel should be considered as valuable as management and advertising personnel and they should be given formalized training, comparable to that of other professional workers. Thus, security is really a preventive economic function of considerable significance.