HOME OFFICE RESEARCH INTO AUTOMATIC FINGERPRINT RETRIEVAL HAS BEEN DIRECTED TOWARDS THE IDENTIFICATION OF LATENT FINGERPRINTS LEFT BY OFFENDERS AT SCENES-OF-CRIME. THE APPROACH DESCRIBED HERE IS BASED ON DIGITAL METHODS OF PROCESSING, ENCODING AND SEARCHING FINGERPRINTS, UTILIZING A GENERAL PURPOSE DIGITAL COMPUTER INTERFACED TO A PURPOSE-BUILT FLYING-SPOT SCANNER DESIGNED BY FERRANTI LTD. IT IS NOTED THAT THE FINGERPRINT TECHNICIAN IS A NECESSARY PART OF THIS SYSTEM, SUPPLYING INFORMATION AND MAKING DECISIONS WHERE AUTOMATIC FACILITIES HAVE YET TO BE PROVIDED. THE EXPERIMENTAL SYSTEM IS IN THE FINAL STAGES OF EVALUATION AT THE HOME OFFICE. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT MODIFIED)