Given the unfeasibility of routine 'cold' file searches (searches where only latent prints are available with no suspects to narrow the matching), it is not surprising that the possibility of automating all or part of the search process has stimulated great interest in the law enforcement community. Automated systems implemented within the last decade can be divided into three general categories: (1) index systems, which use a general-purpose computer to keep an on-line cross-index of individual characteristics, criminal history information, and detailed fingerprint classification characteristics; (2) ridge-angle systems, which encode, store, and search information on the angle of ridge flow at certain points on tenprint cards; and (3) encoded minutiae systems, which scan television images of fingerprints (tenprint or latent) and record the position and orientation angle of minutiae in each print (the Rockwell AFIN system is of this type). The AFIN system hardware is broken down into three component groupings: a Read/Edit Subsystem, a Latent Subsystem, and the Search and Match Subsystem. Each subsystem fulfills a different purpose and is located in a facility separate from the other subsystems. Each of the subsystems is described, and modes of operation are outlined. An AFIN cost-benefit analysis is also presented. Results to date indicate that AFIN may be a practical, cost-beneficial investigative tool which represents the state-of-the-art in physical evidence processing.