Security serves the private sector, while the police serve the public. Security can restructure a client's physical environment; police cannot alter public areas. Security today must focus on five WAECUP (waste, accident, error, crime, unethical practices) threats; police focus on crime. Security aims at increasing the employer's profits; police aim at providing public service. All WAECUP threats are interrelated, and an investigation is usually needed to determine which WAECUP threat was a major contributor to a particular loss. Loss control will counter WAECUP threats. Some loss will occur despite prevention and protection efforts. Loss control is required to suggest stability and system persistance despite imperfection. Flexibility is a key concept that ensures compatability with an open-ended system theory. A systems approach to WAECUP problems must include all elements of private enterprise since the potential for loss exists at every location and at every level. Losses can involve employees, visitors, or customers. Training, coordination, and supervision represent the only ways to involve everyone in loss control. Such activities are based on the exchange of information in formal and informal ways. A loss control model represents the information exchange influencing loss control responsibilities. Some information enhances control while other information has a negative, destabilizing effect. Three figures are provided.