A TOTAL OF 3,311 LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES WERE SELECTED FROM THE 50 STATES AS THE INITIAL SURVEY SAMPLE. MORE THAN 1,800 REPLIES WERE RETURNED FOR ANALYSIS, 81 PERCENT OF WHICH REPRESENTED AGENCIES SERVING A POPULATION UNDER 100,000. RESULTS REVEALED THAT LICENSE PLATES ARE AN IMPORTANT TOOL IN LAW ENFORCEMENT, ESPECIALLY IN THE AREAS OF GENERAL AND OR STREET CRIME CONTROL, TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT AND CONTROL, NARCOTICS CONTROL. ALSO LICENSE PLATES CONTRIBUTE TO POLICE OFFICER SAFETY IN OVERALL OPERATIONS AND TO PUBLIC SAFETY. THERE IS A NEED FOR IMPROVEMENT OF LICENSE PLATES DESIGN FOR GREATER LEGIBILITY IN GENERAL; LICENSE PLATES ARE PARTICULARLY DIFFICULT TO READ WHEN THE VEHICLE IS TRAVELLING AT HIGH SPEED. THERE WAS AN OVERWHELMING CHOICE FOR VEHICLE IDENTIFICATION SYSTEMS USING LICENSE PLATES BOTH FRONT AND REAR, IN PREFERENCE TO ONE-PLATE SYSTEMS, REAR ONLY. THERE WAS ALSO A DECIDED PREFERENCE FOR REFLECTING PLATES BECAUSE OF GREATER LEGIBILITY AND SAFETY VALUE. RESPONDENTS ALSO INDICATED A NEED FOR BETTER STATE IDENTIFICATION, WITH DISTINCTIVE COLORS BEING THE PREFERRED CODING METHOD. (MJW)